I had to kill off the forums for how2podcast.com because of the upgrade problems. The process was way to much of a pain, and I have a ton of other things I have to fix (mainly the backup plugin) and I also want to start publishing the articles I have in limbo.
I’m also looking for people who what to publish articles, All I can offer you right now is some link juice back to your website or biz. You can email me @ feedback@how2podcast.com
Thanks, Ben

Getting the work flow for content creation down is one of my pet peeves, and to do that you have to employ a nice neat tool called a soundboard and or a sound rack.

What a Soundboard/Sound Cart/Sound Rack software does is it allows you to play audio without buffing, you might be asking Buffing? Well back in the day Radio stations used to use tapes on pause to que up Prerecorded interviews, Ads, Music, etc. Then CD’s came into play, but not for long due to the seeking time the disks had. Computers pioneered the way of cart machines, they where alot faster and alot better due to the person not having to que up tapes. Podcasting had adopted this way of of improving the work flow of there podcasts.

Today most audio players dont load the audio file on command when you open it, for most computers it will take 2-5 seconds to play a audio file in a player.
Take for instance an intro, you have that file in a folder and when you double click the file to play it, that audio program takes some time to buffer and play the audio through the speakers. Next Lets say you have an ad or a promo, you have to go back into the folder and find the file. That gap can become big and can causes you to edit out a gap, mouse click, or anything else.

So why not have a program that loads the file instantly when you click on it! And then on top of that have more buttons in the same program that can play an intro, promo, music, voicemails, etc without any gaps and its mouse click away.

Here I’m going to list programs that go this on Mac and Windows. For those of you who are Linux users, I’m so sorry. I’m not a linux user, But if you or I find them in our travels though out the Internet, let me know and I will add them to the list and I’ll give you credit for finding them.

Mac
• BZ Soundboard (Free)
• Soundboard by Ambrosia Software ($29)
• Sound Byte ($39)
• Übercaster ($79.95)

Windows
• PodProducer (Free)
• The Sitter Downers Soundboard (Free)
• SonicCart (Free)
• SoundBoard By Xnapid.com ($15)
• Sound Byte ($39)
• StudioRack (Limited Free version – $99-$199 to buy)

A lot of podcasters are obsessed with stats, including my self. Just knowing you have listeners is a fulfilling experience that one never gets ove, that is for the first 6 months. I launched a network of shows at Qetuo.me and wanted to know how well my first shows where doing.

Over time, as I have done before, I’ll stop looking at those stats, knowing that people are listening to what I have to say or do.
It isnt that bad to take a peek once an a blue moon to see if there was one show that people listened to more than another, or to see something is wrong with a feed or something you did or didnt do in your show or blog.

In the old days we used to have a plugin track the stats, but over time the developer stopped updating it.
Some would use Feedburner, but to tell you the truth, it never tracked the downloads in a correct way.
Now a days we have reliable services that offer great cloud stats software, so you can track your shows and listeners.

Podtrac – Podtrac is one that I’m just getting into, so I cant say much as of yet, but looking it over the stats, aha well they are just plain jane. If your looking for something like this Podtrac is for you. I also didnt like the submitting proses they wanted a lot of info, just for stats.
Blubrry and TechPodcasts (Only for Technology Podcasters) – I have to say Raw Voice the parent company that owns both sites are the best when it comes to stats. They offer a out of this world free service allows you to view what device, program, country, etc for each podcast. and the $5 premium stats are even better.
libsyn – For now libsyn is third in stats reason being is you have to sign up for there hosting plans in order to take advantage of there stats. but if it was just stats it would be second over blubrry.

[Image Credit kevinzhengli From flicker]

I learned this trick while I was working for a theater group. We called this contraption a JerryRig, named after the guy who made it, you see these groups run on a low budget, so you have to think of clever ways to cut corners, including cables.
Although my version is a lot different than his version I think its about the same
You see audio cables in excess of section lengths become really expensive over $60+. So why pay that much for one cable, when you can make one for a lot less, and easily replace it by going to any hardware store or Supermart.

Things you’ll need
Wire Cutters and Strippers
Electrical Tape
2 100ft Orange extension cables
2 3ft 1/4 Stereo audio cables
2 Male electrical plugs
2 Female electrical plugs

To start cut the 2 audio cables in half, you should have 4 peaces of cable with the 1/4 jack at one end and they should be about the same length.
Strip back each wire from the cables and attach the electrical plugs to the cables.
Take note on what wire your connecting the wires to the plug. When I do this I make them as if it was a clock Left prong – Left, Right prong – Right, and the post for the ground.
Tape over the connections and the rest of the exposed cable with electrical tape.
Plug in each of the Jerryrigs to each ends of the extension cables and you have a LONG audio cable for use in live performances.

I’ve been setting up my new podcast network Qetuo.me, for the last month or so and I wanted to make the audio links playable for the iPhone and iPad. The site its self doesn’t have a problem as far as design, but the biggest problem is Adobes Flash. My current player isnt supported by Apple on its products(due to it being in flash), so what should I do to combat this problem? Use HTML5?
Most podcasters nowadays use wordpress to create the blog and rss feed… Great but you also need something to tell iTunes what to do with the feed, insteps Blubrrys PowerPress plugin. But the plugin doesn’t support html5 as of this writing, but I do hear that they are going to supporting it soon. For now we need a plugin called Degradable HTML5 audio and video plugin (DH5) it can also be found on the WP plugin directory. What DH5 does is asks the browser what program it is and delivers an Flash version if the browsers doesn’t support HTML5.
To figure out how to do all this nonsense, In the WP admin disable the Flash player being used by Powerpress.


Next within your blog post of an episode still add what ever Powerpress requires, but include this tag to the html code, [audio src="File URL/path"] What will happen is a player will be placed where ever you pasted the code, so choose wisely.

If you liked this blog post, please leave a comment below or tell a friend

I’m one of those podcasters that love to dream on the next equipment purchases I’ve got equipment magazines and catalogs allows open some where in the house, and finely I was able to drum up some money to upgrade things I wanted to get for my podcast.
My setup isn’t all that great although when I started podcasting I only had a $10 microphone/headset combo
But today I can say I do have a nice setup, that makes me proud.

Two weeks ago I had used money leftover from a Rebate card from my Cell phone provider and purchased an Behringer MicroAmp HA400 Ultra-Compact 4-Channel Stereo Headphone Amplifier
I was getting fed up with fiddling with the nobs on my mixer to get the right volume between recordings and also wanted something that would split the microphone jack on my Yamaha MG102C Mixer, and If have friends over to podcast they couldn’t hear themselves or others if I was to use skype to bring in other people, Solved with this device.

Lucky for me I had also received a check from when I produced a podcast for the Tech Podcasts Network.
With a little extra money added to the mix, I was able to purchase two more items for my setup the Heil Sound PR-20 Dynamic Hand-Held Studio Microphone and a Desk stand that holds my old microphone a EV Cobalt Co9. Although my old microphone wasn’t that old… I only payed $35 for it, and it was time for me to upgrade to something sounds way better. The funny thing is it fixed a problem with the compressor on my mixer, it now works LOL. In comparing both the microphones, I turned the Mixers Gain and VOL to full, flattened the EQ and turned the compressor off, I couldn’t tell the difference till I turned the Gain and Vol down, the Heil was just a little better, then I turned the compressor on, OMFG I couldn’t hear a thing and I have a fan running about five feet away from the desk, just way cool.
I’m hoping here in the future to purchase a shock mount for the PR-20, a compressor/limiter/gate, new headphones, and just maybe a Heil PR-40

If you liked this blog post, please leave a comment below or tell a friend

There are many ways you can record your podcast. You can podcast from a car, train, semi, closet, a bar, or even walking in your neighborhood, or even a beach.
When you are doing a podcast you do want a quiet room but there are some situations that you may want an ambient noise, noise can be great in the background, but can also can be a distraction, that is if it’s the wrong type of noise, the wrong type of noise can be a hiss,buzz, or popping coming from your microphone. If you’re in your studio, you don’t want to have a lot of noise and most podcasters want it to be really quiet, but if you have any handheld microphone like a Edirol R-09HR High-Resolution WAVE/MP3 Recorder that can pick up great ambient noises for your podcast, which your audience may enjoy.

To start you off I’ll first start talking about recording in a car.
Some podcasters record in their car and due to time constraints they podcast while on your way to work, some even record while they carpool, like Robert Llewellyn’s CarPool Podcasts. I’ve even hear podcasters podcast on there way home from work, or even on your way to the grocery store, the possibility’s are endless.
One thing that you will undoubtedly find out when you’re recording in your car is the ambient noise is not really good, and can turn your listeners off. Try it out and see what your listeners say.
You can’t also podcast from your car and not go anywhere just think about it what are you surrounded by? You’re surrounded by pretty much carpet and upholstery, which cuts your noise of your podcast down alot, if you have kids, dog, thin walls, or a bitchy wife this is great place to podcast from, very low noise and absorbent materials why not?

Next up is semi-truck; another great way to record a podcast, just think of it as a car… although if you’re driving down the road you may not what to podcast because it is of course really noisy, but if you have some downtime, your truck can be a great place to podcast, the only problem is a lot of trucks have plastic in them, and sound can bounce off the walls. To fix this problem you can easily pull the curtain across the cab and speak into the microphone while facing the curtain. What this does is the curtain absorbs the sound waves made by your voice thereby canceling out and won’t reflect back the other walls and back into the microphone.
What you can also do is get your self a dynamic microphone that will cancel out any ambient noise within your podcast.

Who’s in the closet? When you’re looking at a car it’s about the same if you have a walk-in closet you have clothing on the right and left and possibly in front of you, now if you sit in the middle of your closet the voice vibrations that is coming out of your mouth will hit the clothing and will be absorbed and not reflect back.
To hinder back to when I talked about the car, sound is being absorbed by almost everything the only problem is the ceiling most ceilings are drywall and bounce sound waves, but it shouldn’t be that bad because once the waves bounces off the ceiling the clothing should cancel any sound waves.

Bars, Pubs, and Restaurants . These public/Privet places are a great place for ambient noise so why not podcast from them? although it can be a little bit noisy at times, but if you record during the day between five and seven were pretty quiet and you have a lot of elderly and people getting off from work the best is to have a crowd around 8-10 most places close at around between 10pm to 12am maybe even later. I used to work at a bar and a restaurant that closed around 1 AM. The best time to record in these places are between opening and just before closing those of the great times have podcast because the noise isn’t that high although you might have music in the background and might not be a good thing because of copyright for the music. but hey you can always say you where drunk when you where recording

Neighborhood walking is a great place to podcast if you have a portable recorder walking in your neighborhood can be an enjoyment in itself if you’re walking to get fit why not walk in podcast to any great ambient noises coming from the birds, crickets, field mice, or raccoons in the background, are all great ambient noises your listens may enjoy, the same thing goes for beaches just think of it a stream flowing down some rocks, water rushing to the shoreline! aha sound like I need a vacation… Although podcasting from the beach or somwhere there is dirt can probably causing problems with your sound equipment and may not be a good idea but that is way man invented ziplock bags to put your recorder in

If you enjoyed this blog post, Please leave a comment below or tell your fellow podcasters about it.

A few manufactures make quiet computers, but if you cant afford them you might need to do the work yourself. Weather your PC has just a little noise or like an F-16 while sitting at idle, eliminating the noise is easy and rated from beginner to advanced, but all can be accomplished by you.

99.5% of all noise coming from your computer is fan noise and can be taken care of very easily.
A lot of the noise coming from a computer is due to the heatsink being clogged by dust, hair and cigarettes smoke being sucked into the computer and getting stuck in the heatsink.
What happens is if dust builds up and gets stuck in the heatsink, your computer over heats and the fans try to keep the heatsink cool, and then intern making the fans spin up faster and more often. Not good at all.

Cleaning the fans and heatsinks are very easy to do and does not take that much skill or time do. What you want to do is unplug the cables attached to the computer, including the power and let the computer cool down for about 5-10 min.

(This next step is standard, but does depend on your make and model so check with your manufacture)
Put the case on its side so that the front face is facing right. Take a screw driver and unscrew the screws on the side panel. and slide the panel to the left, once open you might see a lot of dust.

Taking the fans out of the computer is also very easy, just unplug them and unscrew the fans from the CPU’s heatsink, the fan on the back of the computer, and if any, the front fan. After these fans are out remove the dust by taking a vacuum cleaner or a low powered leaf blower to the heatsinks in the computer. Make sure to use the vacuum lightly and without any attachments over the other components and dont blow or suck things out or place. (You dont want to break anything)

While the fans are out of the computer, clean and check the fans to see if they can spin freely, the bigger ones should spin for at least 2 sec or longer, the smaller ones dont spin that long so you want to see is if the fan rocks back and forth when stops spinning. If the fan makes grinding noises while being spun, or doesnt do the prier stuff replace immediately!
If your video card has a fan on its heatsink, remove the card and clean and check the fan.

If you can, take the front face plate off the computer (Take care not to break the clips). Dust likes to accumulate in between the plastic faceplate and the metal case.

Check the screws in your case and its components to make sure that they are hand tight, you would be surprised what comes loose over the years of a computers life.

Doing this steps makes a world of difference to the noise of the computer and you will find that all of the fans are more quiet due to the air flowing freely thought out the computer. A good practice is to clean the dust from a computer every 3-10 months depending on the environment you live in.

If your studio needs to be absolutely quiet or your OCD! You might want to install some accessory’s while the computer is open.

Lining the sides with Sound-absorbing foam such as AcoustiPack™, though it can make your PC run a bit hotter, it turns your PC into an almost-soundproof system.

Newer Hard drives dont make that much noise but can vibrate other parts in the computer so by using a product like the ZALMAN ZM-2HC2 Noise Prevention Heatpipe Hard Drive Cooler that converts the standard 3.5in drive to a 5.25in drive and takes the vibration out
NOTE: If your hard drive does make loud noises look into replacing it with a new one, the bearings in your hard drive might be going bad.

Like before, case fans do cause alot of noise, and choosing replacements are up to you, but there are many fans to choose from and alot are rated for having a low rpm meaning less noise. The down side is they don’t circulate air as well as one that has a standardized rpm. For a look at some quiet fans check outQuietPC.com, they have some great fans to choose from.
Speaking of fans, the same should be said about a cpu fan and heatsink. Keeping a heatsink cool is a key thing that your computer needs, and changing a stock heatsink to something that is more adequate may need to be done. Depending on the make and manufacture of the CPU, you can check out QuietPC.com to see what you may need.
You also may want to check with the manufacture of your computer to see what CPU socket you have a nice google search will work also. (If you are changing the heatsink don’t forget to buy thermal grease)

While you are replacing the fans look into adding gaskets or anti vibration screws to your fans to lower vibrations

After cleaning your computer, you might have noticed that there is this box attached to the case! That is the power supply and it cant be cleaned without taking it apart, WARNING: DO NOT OPEN… YOU MIGHT GET SHOCKED! just vacuum the outside of the case and it should be fine.
Alot of people might argue that the power supply is one of the noisiest components in a computer, and I agree! Having a cheap power supply can cause audio problems such as, buzzing within the recording. Having Quiet and Higher Quality power supply can dramatically reduce the clatter.
When looking for a power supply you want one that has at a minimum of 1 fan that is on the bottom of the unit, rated for ultra low noise, supports the components your going to be plugging into, and the wattage you need.

Other things you might want to look into are North/Southbridge Coolers and RAM Coolers, as well as video coolers and fans, for those who do video.

I hope you enjoyed this article, if you have a correction or just want to add somthing, please leave a comment below
Benjamin Straw

Finding the right PC for podcasting is a big task, you have to think about what you are going to be doing with that PC weather it is Video or Audio. Both can tax a system and cause some headaches. CPU, Ram, Hard Drive, Video Card, Sound Card, and even cooling all falls on the needs of you the user.

When doing the research for my production PC, I looked at big box stores, online dealers, and much more. I wanted it to be as quite is possible, but with cooling in mind and the budget I was working with… that wasn’t possible. I dont like buying computers from big box stores, Why? The little geek in side me screams “DONT BUY IT you do not know what the manufacture put in the machine.” So I turned to Dell.

Dell.com lets you pick from a range of computers and then choose what you want in it, NICE HUH? While still working with the budget, I couldn’t buy the one I wanted, So I turned to a website that deals in… Deals!

TechBargains.com has some sweet deals on New and Refurbished computers, from manufactures like Acer, Dell, HP, and others as well as other technology related products. I found a computer on this website that was $449 from Dell. So a computer that would have cost around $700 only cost me $500 with shipping, now that is some savings… and got the same one I wanted.
Now what should a Podcaster look for in a new podcasting rig?
Well since there are two category’s, Audio and Video your needs may very.

A 1 hour Audio should only take about 15 min to encode to mp3 Vs. A 30 min video that takes 3-4 times longer to encode.
Now here is what you should look for in that rig your buying.

CPU: For Audio an AMD or Intel Duel core or i3 CPU will work great. Video I would go with a Intel Quad core or I7

Ram: Audio and Video anything over 4GB will do the job and do it well.

Hard Drive: The More the better 500Gb – 1TB

Video: To tell you the truth I would get the cheapest… and then go to a website called NewEgg.com and buy a new one, and put it in your self. Manufactures dont really give you a large option of video cards. If your editing just audio the cheapest or the one you get with the pc will work just fine, But Video, get the best you can afford.

Sound: Sound cards are a tricky one, some people tend to buy just the basic, and some upgrade, I would if you can afford it.

Other things: Everything else is an option, one thing I would do is have the manufacture take all the software that they install off, like anti virus programs, or any other programs that might tax the system when you go to hook it up.

If your looking for that computer that doesn’t make a sound, and is built for what your wanting to do, check out the computers that Rain Recording manufactures. They make some NICE computers for both Audio and Video production.

If you have any comments, questions or anything else, Please leave it below.

Battling noises might just be the hardest thing a podcaster deals with, I my self live about a mile from a private Airport and am inline with the planes that love to play touch and go (A fake landing).
Among the noise coming from TV’s, fans and surprise guests, they like to play a key roll in my podcasts, in this blog post I will tell you how to lower/eliminate noise that is being picked up in your recordings.

1 The first line off defense is your microphone, their are 3 types of microphones out there that we need to cover, Condenser, Dynamic, and Ribbon microphones.
Most podcasters cant afford ribbon mics due to the fact that the price tag ranges around $900+, so I’m only going to use the other two (Condenser and Dynamic).

Condenser Microphones
Condenser Microphones are almost as common as the cold, and when it comes to picking up noise Condenser microphones are the worst. Condenser microphones are used in a lot of consumer products, from a cellphones, Webcam Microphones, and the cheap $10 headset/microphone combos. Condenser’s love to pick up everything, Why?

Condenser microphones capture sound using a conductive diaphragm with a capacitance charged plate behind it. The charge is supplied by a DC voltage source from a battery or from the 48 volt ‘phantom power’ supply present in most mixers and mic preamps. Air pressure changes meeting the conductive diaphragm cause it to move, which causes an analogous AC voltage to be formed in the charged plate. These tiny AC voltages are sent to a tiny preamp built into the microphone, which brings the signal level up to where it can drive a typical microphone preamp. This is why a Condenser microphone picks up ALOT of noise.
So the trick with this type of microphone is to turn the volume down, buy a pop filter, and talk closer into the mic.
This will eliminate about 75% of all noise.
I have a friend that owns a CAD GTX2200 Condenser Microphone, Not a bad mic, he sounds great on it, but the problem is not the mic, it is the phone and bird about 20 feet away. By doing this it eliminated the phone and took the volume of the bird so low, we where able to record a distant podcast with out the recording being pegged when the bird talks.

Dynamic Microphones
Thank you god! Dynamic microphones do not have problems like condensers. Why? well Dynamic mics use a ‘moving coil’ to sense the changes in air pressure that makes sound waves. The wire coil is connected to a thin diaphragm, and the whole assembly is suspended over a permanent magnet. When moving air hits the diaphragm it causes the coil to move over the magnet, which causes a process called electromagnetic induction to take place. This causes an AC voltage to be formed that is an electrical ‘analogy’ of the original sound and lowering the noise being sent. This is why you have to what we call eat the microphone for your self to be heard.
although a fan or a loud noise can be picked up from this type for microphone its a lot less then Condensers

2 The second line of defense is a mixer. A normal mixer Has a Gain, High, Mid, Low and Vol nobs or sliders.
the first is gain when dealing with noise you will be dealing with this and the vol. you want to dial this in to where you dont hear any noise, but sill can record at a decent volume.
High, Mid, and Low are freq for your voice Highs tend to bring in some noise and give your voice some warmth, Mids tend to just stick around, unless you have a bass voice. And then you have Low… Low is what you would expect from the word, the low end of your voice, If you want a bassy voice but you sound like a chipmunk, the low nob should help you out.

3 Among all the great hardware that helps someone to eliminate noise is is the third line of defense a Gate/Limiter/Compressor. What the gate does is keeps the microphone off until it hears a signal at the level you have set, Limiters do as what the name describes Limits the ammout of audio, and Compressors keeps the volume at a consent level as to not clip or peek the recording/performance. The Cheaper ones you can buy only come with Compressor/Limiter and or a Gate, but you can be purchased with all three.

4 The forth line of defense is you, Take the time and close the windows, turn off the fans, give the kids $10 for the Ice Cream Man/Lady, lock the dog up, memorize the train schedule, etc. Things are going to happen, and that is why God made a pause button.

As a word of advice the closer the better, is to reduce background noise .

Have something to add?, Please leave a comment below.

Alot of people have asked me how to do I get my listeners/audience back to my site?
Getting people to come back to a site, can be one of the hardiest things to do, what I like to do is drive my listeners back to the Web site so they can see Ads and affiliate links and maybe click on one. As broke podcasters we need to make money to pay for hosting or new equipment. Some people may not have that reason for driving traffic in this form but some want feedback in the form of comments, or like to look at stats. What ever the reason I decided to list ways you the podcaster, can drive traffic to your site and get them to come back.

Polls
Polls are a good way to get you announce to go to the site and come back. What I do on one of my podcasts is have polls once a month, and give announce the results and have them come back to vote on a new topic that may interest them. Highly effective.

Blog
Blogging and telling your audience a short snipit about the blog post also drives them to come back to the site to read about what you where talking about.

Summary
You may ask what do you mean? Well in WordPress you are able to have excerpts of the post with in the RSS feed called “Summary”(Found Under the Settings > Reading Menu), about 20% of podcast listens use a normal RSS reader, and having excerpts of the show notes suming the full post, forces a listener to click on the “Read more” button and bring them back to the site for the full show notes.

Extensive show notes
Extensive helps not only the listener but new listeners. Google and other search engines index your site daily and having extensive show notes makes your site more likely to get more traffic.
Copy and paste emails you receive, quote web pages you talk about on your show, and dictating your own words are all good ways to get traffic.

ID3 tags
No matter what program you use, your ID3 tags should always include your URL within the title, comment, and lyrics sections.

Images
This one I even missed when thinking of ways to get the listener to your Web site! Include the URL of your Web site with in the image! Let me ask you a question what is the one thing you look at when your listening to a podcast on a iPhone, ipod or mp3 player? The Album Art! So why not add some text to your image that includes a Web site URL.
You can also watermark your images on your post so your listener knows where he/she got the image if it is saved to there computer.

Contests
Nothing says Hey GO HERE like a contest.
Have your listeners comment on the podcast post to win, its easy as that.

Offer
Offer your listeners something that they cant get from the podcast, a game, Image, application, etc.

Tell
One of the most powerful ways you could ever do to get your listener to go to your Web site is to ask them and beg them.

Anywhere
And lastly anywhere your listeners can click or see your Web site URL will drive traffic to your Site.

If you have any more ideas, Please leave a comment below.

When it comes to media hosting it all depends on your needs, Some podcasters host their media on web hosting servers to cut the cost to a minimum, others use free hosting, and then you have the people who have money to pay for hosting.
The average podcast brings in between 300-500 downloads per episode the first year. At around 36MB for an hour show, a bandwidth bill could add up to be huge.

Adam Carolla, earlier this year (2009) launched a podcast that brought in over 1 million downloads the first week, making it the number the number one iTunes podcast in the US and Canada. But had racked up a bandwidth bill so high he was forced to start advertising to pay for the bandwidth bills.
Now I’m not saying your going to be the next Adam Carolla, but you just might some day.
When looking for hosting you want to compare and ask. Alot of people have gotten ripped from hosting company’s that clam they have the best hosting and then fall off the face of the earth a week later, leaving the publisher scrambling to find a new host.
The list below are media hosting company’s that have been in the podcast space for some time and has been proven to provide support for new media. I also exclude providers that don’t offer a monthly upload limit and make you delete your old shows after you hit your storage limit, this is a down side to podcasts who provide non time sensitive content that could be downloaded at any time.

Audio Archive from Archive.org – Free
Archive.org is known for its web crawler that archives your web page, and now have moved into the audio space.
Audio Archive contains over two hundred thousand free digital recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by our users, as well as podcasts.
The downside to Audio Archive is if you have a 128Kbps mp3 file Audio Archive will compress it down to 64Kbps, but it is free.

Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) – Pay for what you use
Amazon S3 hasnt been around for that long as the other ones in the rest of this list, but Amazon has pushed into this space with a bang, Bring you very low priced hosting at speeds that other hosting providers cant provide. Features are slime, but include the fastest Internet connection available, upload anything, pay fractions of a penny for storage, data upload, and data downloaded, and just pay for what you use.
This would be really good for the beginner podcaster because you would pay a lot less then other hosting solutions, but as your show grows bigger the bill will get bigger, and going to another hosting would be a much better choice.

Blubrry – $12-$60
I have to say one thing about Blubrry, they arnt going anywhere. The company reports are allows in the black and always growing with its products and services.
Blubrry’s Hosting services offer; Feature Rich Blogging Platform, Podcast Release Scheduler (schedule episodes into the future), RSS 2.0 Feed (iTunes compatible), Web Based Media Uploader with Upload Progress Bar, Rich Text Blog/Podcast post editor, Full Blog API (Supports WordPress 2.5+), Post to Twitter, Ping Weblogs (e.g. Google Blog Search, Technorati), Media Artwork Management, ID3 Tagging (writes information such as episode title to media files), Media File Naming (Portable Media Player Optimized), Blog Post Image Management, and Podcast Statistics Premium ($5/Month Value).
Blubrry also has its Powerpress plugin that makes publishing your podcast even easier.

CacheFly – $15-$299
CacheFly delivers more than 25 Terabytes per week for each of the most popular podcasts, Shows from Leo Laporte and Rev3 host their show with this company.
Features for CacheFly includes; 100% uptime guaranteed, Delivery on our Global CDN, Real-time reporting, Comprehensive access controls, 24/7 customer service, SCP, SFTP & rsync uploads, Protected links (md5 shared secret), and Access to raw logs (CLF).

Liberated Syndication (Libsyn) – $5-$60
Libsyn might just be the most populer media hostings services around, Lybsyn now owned by Wizzard Media, is hosting what might be over 10,000 podcasters.
Features for Libsyn includes; Storage space that grows with you, Unmetered bandwidth, No lock-ins, Your own RSS feed iTunes compatible, Customizable Webpage / Blog, Web and FTP Uploading, Stats Feature, Storage space calculator so you know what you need, Publisher’s Toolkit, Dynamic Ad Insertion, and Upgrade your active service level at any time with out service charges.

Mevio (Formerly known as Podshow) – Free
MEVIO is a large broadband entertainment company that focuses on personality driven programming. They have a solid audience base of 5-7 million uniques a month and are listed as a top 15 multimedia entertainment site, consistently ranking at or above the traffic levels of Hulu, Veoh, Heavy, Ripe Digital Entertainment, Spike.com, FunnyorDie, VBS.TV, Joost, and Revver.com according to comScore. Mevio is also listed as a top ten site for music and rank above Pandora, Rhapsody, Last.fm, Sony BMG, Live Nation, Warner Music, Napster, and Disney Music.
Mevio offers the opportunity to join MEVIO’s exclusive advertising and promotional campaigns to earn revenue, FREE hosting of your Video and Audio media files, non-exclusive and no commitment, Opportunity to be promoted on MEVIO’s 4 Networks: MEVIO Tech, MEVIO Women, MEVIO Men and MEVIO Music, FREE, unlimited blog hosting if you choose to host a WordPress blog on MEVIO, Access to exclusive publishing tools, and Access to publishing and promotional training.

If you use of one of these media services or know of a good one you would like to recommend , Please leave a comment below

And then there was one.
It all started with Podpress, what was a great plugin that a lot of podcasters had used including my self, back in the day. The development this plugin has been halted since Dec of 2007 and from rumors around the Internet, development has stopped. Now FAST FORWARD to this month (Dec 2009) the Podcasting plugin has now dropped development of the plugin. And according to the blog post, the Podcasting Plugin does not support the latest WordPress install 2.9.
Its a shame that developers within the WordPress community, do not want to to fight for podcasters within this space. Most creators of these plugins don’t get payed for what they do and some rely on donations from people to get payed, and then the users expect them to fix bugs and add things on a whim.

Blubrry’s Powerpress plugin is now the ONLY WordPress plugin for podcasters to use. Even though I think Powerpress is a great tool, and I dont think Blubrry is going anywhere soon, I am fearful of what might just happen to Podcasts, if we loose support for the only solution to get iTunes, Zune or other feed readers to recognize our feeds.

Are you worried?
Should we be?
Let me know what you think, Please leave a comment below.

About a month ago I published a new podcast for one of my shows, At the time I thought nothing of it, until I checked the stats of the podcast. Now mind you this podcast has a small but growing audience, But when one episode grows to over 300% of what it was in under a week, a small plane began to fly a red flag over head. 95% of the traffic for the podcast is from iTunes and I began searching the store to see if I got on the new and notable or on a featured list. Well I was on none… not that I could find.
After sleeping on the thought, I woke up the next day and began to find out what really made my podcast jump in listener-ship.
I desired to Post a new episode for a test. One hour of posting the show I had over 20 downloads, not the norm for this show, so what was making it jump?
I looked at the server logs and it was showing that the file was only downloaded 2 times both from friend feed…
Why? Well I went into my sever logs and there was 404 errors UP the WAZOO. (404 errors mean that the file was not found)
So why? I had checked the post and the file played, checked the feed on the server side, it played. and then feed burner… 404 error… ok thats odd!
What Feed Burner does for podcasters is makes podcasting on other blog software a little easier, If your using blogger, drupal, or typepad, it retags your RSS feed into an something that iTunes or other podcast readers can read (it also makes the RSS feed look all pretty)
Feed burner also has a feature that you can track your downloads, although it doesn’t work that well it does give you a jist of what they are. and that was the problem.. the tracker.
I scrambled to have iTunes get a new feed from my server, which takes some time.
Now heed this warning IF you use feedburner you get NO user end support. none at all… why? because it is FREE, google who owns the software cant support all the users who do use it.
If you do use it, only use feedburner for a rss redirect and dont put your faith in some thing that could make you loose your listeners.

A new version of Blubrry’s PowerPress Plugin version 1.0.2 just came out about 2 days ago and I am stocked about this version. Writing about it can not describe how great this new version is. So I made a video I hope you enjoy.

(10/15/09) Update: I uploaded the video to more video servers.
Watch On Vimeo, Youtube, Blip.Tv, and Yahoo! Video

Review: Blubrry PowerPress Plugin 1.0.2 from Ben Straw on Vimeo.

Note: I did not get payed for reviewing this plugin.

Starting a podcast (if you already haven’t started) is a easy breezy compared to Advertising. When thinking about Sponsorship or Advertisements for your podcast, you need to know a few key podcast advertising Buzz/Online advertising pricing model words first that accompany your start to advertising.

CPA (Cost Per Action)

The actions defined in a cost-per-action agreement relate directly to some type of conversion, with sales and registrations among the most common. This does not include deals based solely on solely clicks, which are referred to specifically as cost-per-click or CPC.

The cost-per-action (CPA) model is at the other end of the spectrum from the cost-per-impressions model (CPM), with the cost-per-click (CPC) model somewhere in the middle. In a CPA model, the publisher is taking most of the advertising risk, as their commissions are dependant on good conversion rates from the advertiser’s creative units and Web site.

Marketers looking for cost-per-action deals have several options. Publishers with considerable excess inventory may be willing to consider nonstandard offers. Sites specializing in incentive programs are in a position to offer CPA pricing on various types of leads, although the usual caveats concerning incentivized traffic still apply. Perhaps the most widespread use of performance-based pricing is affiliate marketing, whereby merchants/advertisers determine what actions they want to reward and how much they are willing to pay.

Information provided by MarketingTerms.com

CPM (Cost Per Mille)

The total price paid in a CPM deal is calculated by multiplying the CPM rate by the number of CPM units. For example, one million impressions at $10 CPM equals a $10,000 total price.

1,000,000 / 1,000 = 1,000 units
1,000 units X $10 CPM = $10,000 total price

The amount paid per impression is calculated by dividing the CPM by 1000. For example, a $10 CPM equals $.01 per impression.

$10 CPM / 1000 impressions = $.01 per impression

Information provided by MarketingTerms.com

CPA and CPM are keywords to podcast advertisers that are used most often when talking to potential sponsors or advertisers, everything comes back to CPA and CPM so get to know the buzz words very well.

Page 2: Adverting Resources
Page 3: Talking to sponsors or advertisers

Record Skype Using Hardware – Mixer Mix Minus

A Mix Minus is one of the best sounding and I think the easiest way to record Skype, Most software available cuts the guest off when the host starts talking, this can make for a bad mix within the recording, especially if you argue a lot with your co host.  I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts and believe me its bad.
Setting up a mix minus is fairly easy, I’m going to start with what you will need to start off with

1. 1: Computer able to run Skype and record using the mic and line-in
2. Opt; External Recorder such as the Edirol R-09HR WAVE/MP3 Recorder.
3. Opr; Griffin iMic 2 USB Sound Card.
4. 1: Mixer with at least 1 AUX Send
5. XLR Microphone W/ XLR to XLR Cable
6. 2: Phone(has two mono 1/4 cables at one end) to 3.5mm Cables
7. 1: 1/4 to 3.5mm Cable

Take a look at this image below of the mixer I own a Yamaha MG102C Stereo Mixer (10 Inputs) and you will see the highlighted parts you will want to plug into on the mixer.

First take your Phones to 3.5mm cable and connect the 3.5mm end the speaker output and connect the Phone end to Line of Mic 5/6 (This could be any line input, To find out what inputs you can use by reading the manual that came with your mixer)

 
 
 
 
 
 
Turn the AUX nob up for the Mic channel you choose for your XLR Microphone (half should suffice, Skype will adjust the volume as needed )

If you want to record multi track you can by using the Pan nob to do this. (have you on the right and the guest on the left) This makes it a lot easier to edit out a cough, dog barking, or a plane flying over head (all of which I have problems with, mainly air planes. I think they know when I’m going to record a podcast and do it to piss me off).

Next take the other Phone to 3.5mm cable and connect the 3.5mm end to the Mic port of your computer, or if you are using an external recorder such as a Edirol R-09HR WAVE/MP3 Recorder, Plug the 3.5mm end into it. Then connect the Phone ends to the stereo out (also called speaker out) on your mixer

Once done with that all you have next is one more cable Connect the 3.5mm end to the Line-in port on your soundcard and connect the 1/4 to the AUX port on your mixer.
If you dont have a line-in jack on your computer, than you must be using a laptop, If you are you will need to purchase a USB Sound card. I recommend buying a Griffin iMic 2 USB Sound Card. they are the most reliable and the smallest USB sound card out their.

Next I will tell you How to set up Skype to use the newly configured Mix Minus Setup

Searching for podcasts about podcasting, on google, Bing or other search engines is pain, I know I tryed. iTunes does have a section for podcasters but it isnt a good source. most podcasters need to submit to this section to get listed on it. and almost all podcast directory’s dont have a directory listing of podcasts for podcasters.
Its a real shame because those people that want to learn about podcasting search for both on itunes and search engines.
So I put together a list of Podcasts For Podcaster that are currently active providing content for you to listen.
If you know of a Podcast that Podcasts about Podcasting that is still podcasting (hrmm kinda a tongue twister) Please leave a comment below and I will add it to the list.

Podcast Academy

The Podcast Answer Man

Podcasters’ Emporium

The Podcasters Studio with Ray Ortega

School of Podcasting

Podcasting From Scratch

Being a Podcaster and publisher of audio content, recording my guests and interviews can be a big challenge. Recording skype on windows (mainly Vista 64 bit) is not fun at all, with a LONG list of programs that do so many different things and some programs require you to jump through hoops (uninstall, reinstall, install this, install that). Macs users have it a little easier and less hassle. The list below are links and a little run down for Free and Payed applications to record skype.

Record Skype from your Mac

iLife ’09 – GarageBand
It’s a great application to use for creating your own music or the almighty podcast. ($79.99) Using LineIn (Free) and Soundflower (Also Free) and a little workaround you can get GarageBand to record skype.

Übercaster
Ubercaster is a all in one production suite for podcasting. It lets a podcaster prepare, record, cut and release your show. With its Native Skype panel that records Skype conversations. This is due to the fact that Ubercaster uses the official Skype API to communicate with the popular chat application, and that is what makes it the best. ($79.99)

Audio Hijack Pro
*Editors Pick* Record from applications like iTunes, Skype, Firefox, even hardware like Microphones, mixers and other sound cards. Audio Hijack Pro is as easy as a selecting the application and clicking Hijack. ($32)

Call Recorder
Call Recorder is an add-on for Skype which automatically transforms your audio to ACC or MP3 and can also transform Skype video calls into QuickTime movies. ($14.95)

WireTap Studio
Using WireTap Studio, you can record the discrete audio output of any application, as well as all system audio, or record audio input from any microphone, line-in, or audio input hardware. WireTap Studio also boasts full Audio Unit effects support, for adding professional quality effects to your audio. ($69)

Record Skype from Windows

Voice Cloak Plus
Voice Cloak Plus has the ability to record Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, Google Talk, AIM, & ICQ and able to save in Wav, WMA, Ogg, even MP3 file formats.
this program has some nice features in it like a 5 band Equalizer, robot voice effects, flange, echo, voice pitchshift, chorus, sound effects library, and the ability to hear yourself, a plus is you have a usb microphone.
Voice Cloak Plus looks with cool skins to match your every mood! ($29.99)

SkypeCap
SkypeCap is the complete resource for capturing and recording Skype audio and video sessions in real time.
The possibilities are endless! You control when recording begins and ends, as well as the file format and level of quality at which the recordings should be captured. SkypeCap lets you know when it recognizes that Skype audio and video sessions are occurring so that you can record them. SkypeCap can even record the audio and video sessions for you automatically! Only you will know that the audio or video sessions are being recorded.
SkypeCap Features, Record Skype audio conversation, Skype video conversation, Skype group brainstorming sessions, telephone and cellular phone calls via Skype, Detect session automatically and save it!, and more. ($49.95)

Virtual Audio Cable
*Editors Pick* Not a well known Program, and a very good one at that. What you can do is take a USB Microphone or microphone input, and the Sound cards “Sound Mixer” and pipe it to a Virtual audio cable and record the Vcable in your favorite recording program. The down side you have to open two of these programs and if you are using Microsoft Vista 64 bit you want to run this application in “Test Mode” but its well worth it. ($30 – Free to try).

Hot Recorder
This program has High rave reviews, But as I was looking over thw website it gets an “A” for ease if use “F” for the creators bad taste in IFrame Image pane . But over looking that HotRecorder is an advanced tool that allows you to easily record, play, store and convert voice communications held over the Internet. A perfect tool for podcasting, online journalism, conducting business, and much more! Works with Skype 3.0™, Google Talk™, AIM ™, Net2Phone™, Yahoo! Messenger ™, FireFly™ and many other VoIP applications. It converts the proprietary ELP format into MP3, WAV or OGGfiles, and includes Emotisounds ™ to add humorous sounds to your online conversations!. ($14.95)

i-Sound
Also a nice program that has a good Voice-Activation (VOX) system that automatically monitors the input source and activates streaming recording when the input volume reaches a specified level. You can record sound from internal or external source into MP3, OGG, WMA, WAV, APE format sound file directly without costing any other disk space. i-Sound WMA MP3 Recorder allows you to record sound without running out of memory as long as there’s enough disk space. By using WMA MP3 Recorder you can record sounds from MIDI, Internet broadcasts, streaming media (e.g. QuickTime Player, Realplayer, Games, DVD Players…) and your microphone.. ($29.95)

Pamela Call Recorder
Pamela Call Recorder has Skype Call Recording (Free version has a 15 minute per Skype call limit), Take notes during a call or add them later, Automatic call recording (Inbound, Outbound or both), Disable call recording warnings, Automatic Skype chat reply while you are away, and Records in MP3 and WAV format. (€14,95)

PowerGramo skype recorder
PowerGramo skype recorder, I can say looks like a bad translated program… but has some good features that most don’t. Memo/Note while recording a call (Very good to note if someone droped the F bomb and what to note the time), Logs skype chat messages together with voices, and mix music with callers during a skype call. ($14.95 Basic, $44.95 Enterprise)

PrettyMay Call Recorder
This application is almost a spitting image of Pamela, one nice feature is the ability to record chat and multi-chat history, I dont know how many times I forgot a link to throw into the show notes. (Free 15min, $24.95 Pro)

Skylook and CallBurner
Both the highest priced windows skype software. Skylook is an all in one app with including a answering machine($100). Callburner is just a skype recorder with out any bells or whistles($50) . Most wouldn’t think twice about buying this software, the price it just to high.

MX Skype Recorder
MX Skype Recorder is one of the most popular and most basic recorders around. One nice feature is the ability to record conversations in either single or dual audio track (one channel for input (Guest), other for output (Yourself)). The Pro version allows you to record Google Talk, Y! Messenger and other VOIP Applations. ($14.95/Basic $24.95/Pro)

Skype Recorder – Skype Recorder created by Extralabs Software was one of my favorites it recorded a nice skype call. On vista 64 it does have some problems reliability is one when testing it wouldn’t always allow you to record. ($18.95 Single user)

Skype Call Recorder – During my test I was unable to use due to a .Net runtime error that I couldn’t get fixed But you get what you pay for… mmm oh wait its FREE

CallGraph
Call Graph Skype plugin is a desktop application that allows you to record your conversations and save the recordings to mp3 or an wav file. This Program is completely free for personal and business use. and can record all kinds of Skype calls, Skype P2P, SkypeIn and SkypeOut.
There are no time limits or restrictions for Call Graph which is great.
Call graph also offers services like Transcription for as low as $0.50/minute and Group Collaboration Tools. (Free for personal and business use)

Record Skype from Linux

Linux is one of those OS’s the gets alot of flack about compatibility with programs, and hardware. I did find a few programs but most people are using builtin programs.

Skype Call Recorder
Skype Call Recorder Records calls to MP3, Ogg Vorbis or WAV files and automatic and manual recording
Configure Skype Call Recordert to automatic recording on per-caller basis and split stereo recording
With most linux programs its completely free, unlimited and open source, released under the GNU GPL, and works and a number of linux distros

Scx Tools
Scx-tools is a set of utilities for Skype VoIP client. The project goal is to provide several useful tools for such task as Skype calls recording and management. Currently only the call recorder (version 0.1.1) is available.

Skype-rec
Skpye-rec is a library and wrapper script to allow a user to record conversations using the popular Skype internet telephony software on a Linux system. Conversion to OGG or MP3 is also supported.

Missing a Program? Please leave a comment below.