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Podcasting for developers

How to plan, record, mix, and host your first podcast

Benoit Marchal (bmarchal@pineapplesoft.com), Consultant, Pineapplesoft

Benoît Marchal is a consultant and writer based in Namur, Belgium. He is the author of XML by Example, Applied XML Solutions, and XML and the Enterprise. He produces the Declencheur podcast on photography.

Summary: Many articles and books on podcasting assume that you have experience with sound recording, you can recognize XLR cables, and you understand decibels. Consequently, they spend a lot of time discussing the computer-specific aspects, such as MP3 encoding and hosting Really Simple Syndication (RSS) files, and comparatively little on the audio aspects. If you search on audio, you find plenty of articles on audio recording for musicians and home studio. Some of that material is useful but, again, the tendency is to assume that computers are the difficult bit. What makes this tutorial unique is that it is written by a developer, for developers. So it assumes that you can handle the developer's tasks (such as writing the RSS feed) and concentrates on the novelty: the use of audio.

Date: 27 Jun 2006
Level: Introductory
PDF: A4 and Letter (103 KB | 26 pages)Get Adobe® Reader®

Activity: 15961 views
Comments:

What is podcasting?

A technical definition

Technically, podcasting is the distribution of audio (and sometimes video) episodes or segments through an RSS feed (the RSS popularized by blogs).

Subscribers to the RSS feed can either use a regular RSS client, such as Firefox (in its latest versions), or a dedicated podcast client, such as iTunes. Podcasting shines with dedicated clients because they download the audio/video episodes when the computer is idle. Dedicated clients can also synchronize with MP3 players (the "pod" in podcast stands for the iPod, the most popular MP3 player), allowing listeners to listen to episodes in the car/metro/train/plane or while jogging, exercising, or shopping.

You do not need an MP3 player to enjoy podcasts. I work from my home office and listen to podcasts mostly on my desktop, although I enjoy listening on an iPod while traveling by train to a customer or a conference.

A definition for subscribers

Many less technical definitions of podcasting have been proposed: radio-on-demand (the listener chooses when to consume the episodes), portable Web (the listener can carry Web episodes on an MP3 player), audio blog (combining a blog with audio features), the renaissance of free radio (podcasts are usually produced by amateurs). Each of these definitions carries some truth...which shows that podcasting is a significant evolution for the Web.

What is being discussed in podcasts? Anything really. You can find podcasts on software development (right here, at developerWorks), movie reviews, wine tasting, photography, comedy, personal matters (audio blogs) and, of course, music! Unlike radio, there are no strict rules to adhere to because anybody with a microphone and a computer can give it a go.

A good selection of podcasts is available at many online directories. The most popular directory is the iTunes Music Store; other popular directories include PodcastAlley, Yahoo! Podcast, and Odeo (see Resources).