This week we look at podcasts and audio files. Video podcasts (or vodcasts) will be covered in Test Drive #6.
What is a Podcast?
A podcast is a non-music audio or video recording that is distributed over the internet. The word “podcasts” is derived from Personal On Demand broadcast – hence podcast. You can listen to a podcast anytime, anywhere. The distribution is what makes a podcast unique. It's also what makes a podcast powerful. Interested listeners can receive updates through RSS feeds when new content is posted.
Watch Podcasting in plain English from Commoncraft for a simple introduction of podcasting.
Variety
Podcasts come in many shapes and sizes. They can be brief (just a few minutes) or considerably longer (interviews, panel discussions, radio shows, etc). They can be produced by professionals (radio broadcasts) or by amateurs. You can listen to them on your computer (don’t forget headphones if you are in a public area, like work), your MP3 player or your mobile phone. Despite the name, an iPod is not required.
Locating Podcasts
To locate podcasts you may like to enter “podcast” as a keyword in your search engine. Alternatively there are a number of dedicated podcast search engines and directories you may like to explore. Here are some examples
Meditation and Spiritual Podcasts
How to download Podcasts onto an MP3 Player
Many websites allow users to listen to podcasts directly without the need to download. This is called streaming. You can download podcasts to your computer. This enables you to listen at your leisure or download it again to your MP3 player. If you have a smart phone you can download podcasts directly to your phone. Check your service provider for details.
Be aware that some MP3 files are large and the download time can be significant. They also take up a large amount of space so make sure you have enough space on your hard drive or move the files regularly to another drive or device.
To download a podcast to your computer, right click on the download link and choose save target as. You can then choose where to save it so you can find it again and transfer it to your MP3 player. If you are using another browser that has different methods, save the MP3 files in the same way that you save other files, such as PDFs and images, via your browser.
If you like, schedule regular updates to selected podcasts by downloading a simple bit of software known as a podcatcher. There are several different podcatchers available free on the internet, such as iTunes and Juice. If you have an iPod you may want to watch How to download podcasts from iTunes.
How to create a podcast
There are a number of free open source software products available for you to use if you wish to create your own podcast. Here are three examples.
Audacity is an example of free open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Macs, Microsoft Windows and other operating systems. You can download it from the Audacity website. It will take up about 4KB of space on your computer (not much). Of course once you start creating recordings that’s when you start to take up space on your computer.
Watch 'How to create a podcast' using Audacity. This video also gives some great tips on podcasting.
Power Sound Editor is similar to Audacity but is just set up for Windows, including Windows Vista. There are video and text tutorials on the website.
Watch How to record using Power Sound Editor.
Audiobook Cutter splits your audio books and podcasts into files that can be easily used on mobile MP3 players because of their small-size. The split points are determined automatically based on silence detection so long podcasts or audio books can be divided into shorter albums.
Have a look at the documentation on how it works.
Other software can be located by typing “digital audio open source software” into a search engine.
Discover
Listen to a podcast
You may find one that interests you at the following locations:
State Library of New South Wales
ABC Radio’s Radio National
ABC Radio’s Triple J
The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney .
Walking West End located on the State Library of Queensland’s website
The British Library’s Taking Liberties Exhibition has a number of podcasts that compliment the exhibition
Explore
Search for another podcast using a search engine or one of the dedicated podcast search engines or directories.
Blog about your favourite podcasts or how your library could use podcasts for clients and/or staff.
Adventure (optional)
Subscribe to a podcast.
Or if you’re really adventurous create your own podcast using one of the freely available digital audio software programs. Put a link to it in your blog.
Next Test Drive – Web Browsers
There's masses of podcasts available. For instance, on the site http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory i found great lessons on speaking french.
ReplyDeleteI would opt for the sites that offer streaming rather than downloading podcasts, as you could easily run up a lot of download bites and if you are like me you pay for a limited amount with your broadband provider. Some sites load much quicker than others and some specify a specific podcast format like "ITunes". I went for "Juice" which i'm pretty happy with.
The library sites have some great podcasts by authors, talking about their books and life experiences.
I downloaded the "Audacity" audio editor and I will check it out and make up a few podcasts of my own.
Same old problem surfaces though; how much time do you have? How to use it?
I used to read lots of novels but now i find i'm either involved with technology based tasks or reading non-fiction stuff related to learning the technology.
TuneIn
Good stuff, wanted to know more about this area.
ReplyDelete