Authoring Podcasts

By Keith Mitchell, Ph.D.
Coordinator for Technology Initiatives
Texas Regional Collaboratives

A podcast for iTunes consist of a recorded audio or video file saved in MP3 or ACC format AND a text file called an RSS feed. The text file has links to all the episode media files and the metadata for the podcast series and each episode. (title, author, etc.) The feed (text file) and all the audio can be uploaded to any HTTP server, including a .mac account. The URL to the feed is what users actually subscribe to. There are other podcast management tools than iTunes as well as many media formats, but, for the purpose of our statewide podcasting network, the standard will be iTunes and iPod compatible media formats. The following guidance for hardware and software tools assumes these standards. Use the tabs above to access information to help you select hardware for capturing and editing podcast content, Macintosh and Windows compatible software for authoring podcasts, software tools for maintaining your feed, and additional resources for learning more about podcast authoring.

Ongoing access to internet resources in science and technology education for Texas Regional Collaboratives teachers and educators is supported by the Toyota USA Foundation, AT&T Foundation, TRC statewide corporate partners.

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First the Basics, Becoming a Knowledgeable Podcast Consumer

Before you can author a podcast, you must understand many basic concepts. Learning about authoring content will be much easier after you understand the nature of the medium and the vocabulary that has evolved. Before you can be an author, become a knowledgeable consumer of podcast content. Visit our web pages for podcast consumers to learn the answer to questions such as:

What is a podcast?
What media formats are supported?
Where are podcast published?
What is a podcast feed?
What are educational applications of podcasting?
How do I use iTunes to manage podcast content?

Harware to Capture, Edit, and Publish Podcast Content

What hardware do I use for capturing content for a podcast?

Selecting the best hardware for recording audio and video podcast content can be a challenge. Insuring the different components purchased are compatible with each other, with your computer's operating system, and with the software used will require some careful research or access to others who are succeeding with an equivalent environment. Please share with others in the TRC podcast network the authoring tools that work well in your environment. The following discussion may assist in making purchasing decisions for hardware solutions required for podcast authoring. While a link to a specified source may be given, please conduct your own research as to the best price and for additional solutions in the same category as the tools mentioned. Consider purchasing multiple systems to take care of different recording needs and portability requirements. It is impossible to test all of the listed hardware in every environment. Take personal responsibility to research compatibility issues.

USB Microphones and Headsets
USB microphones directly convert audio to a digital signal. Definately the way to go if you want good audio with minimal wires. Products you may want to research include the Blue Snowball Microphone and the Samson C01U USB Studio Condenser Microphone. Read online reviews as there are some compatibility issues being reported.

headset A headset will consist of a combination earphone with integrated microphone. Headsets are suitable for recording a single person at a time. The close proximity of the microphone to the user, results in very good audio with minimal background noise. The conversion from audio to digital is taken care of by the headset. Cost can be as low as $40 to $70 from brands such as Logitech and Plantronics. Check for compatibility for your computer platform, operating system, and recording software. Generally, look for a USB computer headset commonly used for Internet voice chatting.

Audio Adapters in Combination with External Microphones

fastrack For a system capable of recording more than one person at a time, consider an audio to digital adapter with multiple microphone input jacks. These boxes provide for microphone amplification, earphone monitoring during and after the recording, and on the fly conversion of audio to a digital signal.
mike They are available with USB or IEEE1394 cables. The USB variety are less likely to have driver issues, but the IEEE1394 (Firewire) boxes often support even more simultaneous microphones. Just make sure to check for compatibility before purchasing. Recent operating system (VISTA, and Mac 10.5) currently offer compatibility issues with some adapters. The M-Audio Fastrack (1 mike channel) or Fastrack Pro USB (2 channel) adapters are possibly a good first choice for a 1 or 2 microphone USB adapter in the $150 to $250 range. These adapters will required one or two condenser microphones with XLR cables ($30-$200). If an adapter that supports only one channel is purchased, a single microphone can be used with multiple subjects. This setup however will not allow separate volume adjustment or editing for each subject, Finally, you may want to purchase desk stands for each of your microphones. If an XLR cable does not come with the mike, purchase this as well.

imic Another very low cost one-microphone USB adapter is the Griffin iMic USB adapter. Use a common condenser microphone with a 1/8th miniature jack with this adapter. The iMic does not require an external power supply and could be used to record podcast content directly to a battery powered laptop in the field.

Portable Recording

Any portable audio recorder that supports USB transfer of an audio recording should work for mobile recording of interviews or presentations that can be published as podcast content. Many hand held units record directly to a memory card. The M-Audio MicroTrack II, Edirol R-09 Digital Recorder, Korg MR-1000 are high end solutions to consider. ($300-$1300) Check for compatibility and microphone specifications. A mini-disk recorder is also a good solution if you have one of the audio adapters above to transfer the content to your computer. If possible use an external microphone close to your speaker for best quality.

italk A low cost adapter that converts a video iPod into a hand held audio recorder is the Griffin iTalk Pro iPod recorder. This unit does not work with all iPod's, so check specifications.

Use most portable camcorders to record video podcasts to tape if they have USB or Firewire digital transfer cables. If you only need the audio, use QuickTime Pro to strip out the video leaving just the audio for a podcast. Use an external wired or wireless microphone with your camcorder to reduce the room and camcorder motor noise.

Software Tools for Macintosh Podcast Authoring

Selecting the Right Software Tools

The optimal software will depend on your computer platform, plans for audio and or video format, need for multiple audio track recording, and your editing requirements.

Solutions that can produced the most complex podcasts, can also usually handle your needs for the simplest audio podcast. Purchase solutions that will support growth to more complex podcasts. We have not tested all of the tools mentioned below, so do your own research on compatibility with your hardware. Keep in mind that both Macintosh and Windows platforms have recently made major upgrades to their operating systems. Check for compatibility with the OS you plan to use.

Enhanced and Simple Audio Podcasts

An enhanced podcast can offer any combination of an audio track, graphics or image track, chapter markers, and web links. An enhanced podcast is often a good solution for an educational podcast, as slides, graphics, and photos can often add substantially to the instructional value of a podcast. The following tools are appropriate for authoring an enhanced podcasts on the Macintosh platform.

For simple audio or video capture, when very little editing is required, consider using QuickTime Pro ($29). Download this PDF to see the steps required to record audio or video content on Mac or Windows with QuickTime Pro. This software will work with most USB headsets, USB audio adapters, or Firewire (IEEE1394) camcorders.

An enhanced audio podcast supports embedded images or synchronized slides, web links, and chapter tracks. On the Mac platform, use GarageBand from Apple (ships with the cpu). GarageBand supports the USB headsets and USB audio adapters mentioned above. The GarageBand environment also supports recording multiple audio sources simultaneously with 2 channel audio adapters (FastTrack Pro). Drag and drop images or slides into the timeline as they are needed. To learn more about using GarageBand for podcast authoring see: Creating a Podcast in Garageband and Creating a Podcast(video instruction).

Another solution on the Mac to consider is ProfCast. ProfCast makes it possible to actually record an enhanced podcast while presenting a PowerPoint or Keynote slide show. Profcast takes care of recording both the audio and the synchronization of the slides. Just drag your presentation file into Profcast, deliver your presentation using one of the audio solutions described above to capture the audio. When you stop the slide show, Profcast will immediately produce the enhanced podcast file and even handle the uploading to your server.

Authoring Video Podcasts

Video podcast, sometimes called vodcast, take longer to download, but will often be appropriate for delivering maximum visualization. This will often be the case for educational content. While a video podcast can contain still imagery, the resulting file will much larger than a true ehanced podcast. In addition the compression of the video file will result in some blurring of the graphics. However, if your need in one podcast invovles both still imagery and video, you will have to produced a video podcasts. There is a wide variety of software for video editing on both Macintosh platform. You may need to do a final conversion of video content to make it compatible for iTunes and iPod.

For quick and dirty recording of video for a podcast, you can use Quicktime Pro. (minimal editing supported). For more complex video podcasts, use iMovie (ships with the cpu). iMovie will support basic to advanced editing including multiple audio tracks. There is a simple menu item for exporting in podcast format.

Videocue Pro, from Vara on the Macintosh ($89.99), displays a teleprompter with your prepared verbiage. Drag images, slides, or even video clips next to the text where it should appear in your video podcast. Click a record button and just face your camcorder (connected by Firewire) and read the scrolling text. Videocue will automatically dissolve media in and out at the appropriate times.

ScreenFlow from Flip4Mac for $99 supports creating instructional video podcasts. The feature set makes this solution ideal for podcasts for software instruction or in which you would like to combine a video of the presenter along with his Powerpoint or Keynote slides. The application captures your computer screen, video of the presenter from a camera source, and audio tracks from the camera and computer all at the same time. Afterward capturing content, the application makes it easy to display any combination of the content. Watch the demo videos in the righ hand coloumn to "get the picture.".

Formatting Your Media Files for Compatibility With an iPod

Macintosh software from Apple will often have an option to directly export media or save it in iPod format. This includes, iMovie, QuickTime Player, and GarageBand. You can find the required specifications here. Be aware that iTunes can play back some audio and video formats that are not compatible with an iPod. If you try to transfer a file to an iPod that is not compatible, you will receive a warning. In this case, simply, right click the file iTunes and choose Convert for IPod.

Software for Managing the Podcast Feed

As has been mentioned, the audio or video media is only half the equation for authoring a podcast. To publish a podcast series, you also need a way to produce and maintain the feed that is basically a text file (xml) containing the descriptive data of the series and each episode. The feed is what users subscribe to in iTunes in order to receive your content on an ongoing basis. Feed generation tools may be a stand alone application, be integrated into the content production tool, or be generated by an online tool. Sometimes podcast series have a companion blog. If a given blog posting has an audio or video attachment, then the podcast feed is updated to add the media as a new podcast episode. Some of the tools assume this companion blog, most do not. The following are a few choices for you to consider.

Along with recording enhanced podcasts, ProfCast has a great feed management tool, referred to as the Podcast Manager. Click one button and fill out a form to create a podcast series and then do the same for each new episode of your podcast. Use the Podcast Manager independent of the authoring component of ProfCast and in combination with other tools. For example, one might create an episode using ProfCast and a PowerPoint or Keynote slide show and the next episode with GarageBand or VideoCue. ProfCast Manager can be used to maintain the feed and to upload feed file and the media.

iWeb, which comes installed on recent Macintosh CPUs, works in tandem with GarageBand for creating a Blog with a companion podcast feed. If you need your podcast to have a companion web site, iWeb is easy to learn. Using a drag and drop method of authoring with templates, create a professional looking blog and podcast.

Poderator is a free web based tool that works well for producing the feed file. Just create a free log in account, and fill out the online forms. Then download the Feed text file and upload it to any web server you have access to along with the media files.

Manually editing your feed text file works well. Just refer to Apple's specifications and example file to make sure you get the requred tags and correct syntax. Even a small syntax error will cause iTunes to ignore your feed.

OS X Leopard Server now supports podcast hosting. Publishing a podcast is as simple as posting a blog episode and uploading the media you have captured. Everything else including the feed is handled by the server. A button is provided making it easy for other to subscribe.

Authoring Podcast in Windows

What software applications should be used?

The optimal software will depend on your computer platform, plans for audio and or video format, need for multiple audio track recording, and your editing requirements.

Solutions that do everything can also handle your needs for a simple audio podcast. Purchase solutions will support growth to more complex podcasts. The following are tools that have been identified as Windows compatible for audio only and video podcast. To our knowledge, it is not currently possible to author a true enhanced podcast on the Windows platform, but you can get close to the same result with a video podcast that uses still images.

Authoring Audio Only Podcast in Windows

Most podcast in iTunes are audio only. There will be many instances in which audio by itself will be sufficient. In those cases, almost any audio capture and editing tool will be sufficient. The only caveat is to be sure you have a process that results in an iTunes/iPod compatibility. Often iTunes itself can take care of this conversion. Just right click the file in iTunes and select "convert to MP3 or ACC", both of which are iPod compatible for audio only content. Note that even audio only podcast episodes should have at least cover art. Just make a 300 x 300 pixel image. Select the media in iTunes and type Control I to show the info dialogue for the media. In the Art tab, add your image. Upload this file to your podcast hosting server and image will be visible when anyone is listening to your podcast.

For simple audio or video capture, when very little editing is required, consider using QuickTime Pro ($29). Download this PDF to see the steps required to record audio or video content on Mac or Windows with QuickTime Pro. This software will work with most USB headsets, USB audio adapters, or Firewire (IEEE1394) camcorders.

Annotated Images & Slides
Unfortunately a viable solution for Windows to produce an enhanced audio podcast compatible with the iPod is not currently available. You can alternatively produce a video podcast, that will allow you to easily embed images or slides in your podcast. A video podcast will be a larger download than an enhanced podcast and will not display images with text as well. One approach to produce an audio / image podcast is to use Photo Story from Microsoft. (free) Dan Shmidt, author of KidCast has an excellent podcast discussing the process. The final product will be in Windows Media format. Dan suggests using Jodix to convert the file to MP4, an iPod video format. This just in and not tested, explore a new Window's tool called Snapcast which claims to make it easy to produce a audio/slides podcast.

Yet another solution for posting a audio / image podcast is SnapKast for $79. Launch your Powerpoint slideshow in SnapKast and record your audio annotation. The final video can be exported for posting as a podcast.

For multi-track audio capture and editing for Windows, the most frequently mentioned podcast solution is a shareware program called Audacity. Audacity supports simultaneous recording of multiple tracks if your audio adapter is compatible. With the optional Lame Encoder, Audacity can export MP3 format that is compatible with the iPod or iTunes can convert MP3 to AAC format.
There are many online resources for learning Audacity, including:
Audacity Tutorials
How to Podcast with Audacity Tutorials
How to Record and Edit Audio with Audacity

Sources of royalty free music, stingers, and sound effects for podcasts include:
RoyaltyFreeMusic.com.
Flashkit
Partners in Rhyme

For Windows tools with a more powerful feature set and a cleaner interface consider Adobe Audition or Protools. Note that most video editing solutions support audio capture as well.

Video Podcasts

Video podcast, sometimes called vodcast, take longer to download, but will often be appropriate for delivering maximum visualization. This will often be the case for educational content. There is a wide variety of software for video editing on both Macintosh and Windows systems. Windows authors may need to do a final conversion of their content to make it compatible for iTunes and iPod.

On Windows, any video editing tool will work for capturing and editing video podcasts. The most popular tools include Adobe Premiere and Windows Moviemaker.

A new Adobe tool similar in function to VideoCue, described above, is Vlog It.

Most Windows tools will have an option to export the finished project in Windows Media format. You will then need to convert it to iPod format using a utility such as iPod Video Converter from Jodix.com (shareware). Metadata can be added in your Feed authoring software as described below.

Formatting Your Media Files for Compatibility With an iPod

Software for Managing the Podcast Feed

Poderator is a free web based tool that works well for producing the feed file. Just create a free log in account, and fill out the online forms. Then download the Feed text file and upload it to any web server you have access to along with the media files.

Manually editing your feed text file works well. Just refer to Apple's specifications and examples file to make sure you get the requred tags and correct syntax. Even a small syntax error will cause iTunes to ignore your feed.

Very soon Profcast will be available for Windows and will be an excellent tool to maintain your feed.

Resources to Learn More about Educational Applications of Podcasting and about Authoring Podcast

There a great number of online and printed materials that support your mastering the art and process of podcasting. Obviously, when it comes to understanding your options for planning a podcast, the best tool is to actually explore the thousands of podcasts in the iTunes library. Listen or watch to learn from all those who have proceeded you. The following links will provide a growing list of resources you will want to explore.

Apple Online Resources

Podcasting in Education, A new way to inspire learning
A position statement on the application of podcasting in education with links to the following Podcasting Tutorial and links to sample education podcasts.
Creating a Podcast in GarageBand
A video demonstration of podcast authoring in GarageBand
FAQs; For Podcast Fans
This is an extensive web tool for learning about what a podcast is, how to author, and how to publish and manage your content in iTunes. This set of FAQs also includes links to several video tutorials on authoring with GarageBand, iWeb, and QuickTime Pro. Note that QuickTime Pro is a cross platform tool. This is a must read.
Apple Support Resources for iPod and iTunes
Find manuals, "how to" guidelines, troubleshooting tips, video tutorials, and user discussion forums.

University of South Florida College of Education

Dr. Shannon White from the college of education has been kind enough to share with us the extensive library of videos, Step-by-step PDFs, and professional development resources that they use in supporting educators learning about technology infusion and of specific interest to us, podcast use and authoring. University of South Florida is participating in the iTunes University Apple initiative. On their campus, and especially in their college of education, iTunes serves as the "front end" to an extensive professional development media library. Be sure to explore these resources thoroughly.

Tech-Ease Classroom Tech Help (PDF step sheets as a podcast series)
Lit2Go: Audio Files
Presented in iTunes, this is a college of stories and poems that you may wish to use in illustrating the value of podcast in education. Be sure to try the displayed tabs to see all the content, including some readings in science.
Technology in K12-Lesson Plans
This is an extensive iTunes library of video based professional development. Watch and listen as educators share effective practice as video podcast.
Professional Development Resources
This extensive iTunes library includes a large collection of Math professional development content.
The University also maintains content via web pages that you will find fruitful to explore. The clipart library will be useful for science and mathematics educators developing instructional materials. Note the Teach-Ease for Macintosh and Tech-Ease for Windows include several podcast related video tutorials (Mac - Windows).

Online iPod News and Discussion

iLounge
MacNN Forums
MacWorld
MacWorld iPod News page
Teach Digital: Curriculum by Wes Fryer (master web index of podcasting resources)
Learninginhand (Must see)
hand held computing, podcasts, ipods & mobility from Tony Vincent with the Radio Willowweb podcast
Podcasts for educators, schools and colleges
EPN, the Educational Podcasting Network

Books on Podcasting

Podsafe Music and Effects

The following links were mined from the Learninghand.com site.

Podcast Hosting

If you do not have access to a school server, you can explore these hosting servicers which cator specifically to podcasters.