Publishing Your Media
At some point you will be ready to let loose with your very first episode of your podcast. When you are there are a couple of things you will need in place to get going.- You will need a host on the web that will store the media.
- You will need a place to act as the home page for your show.
- You will need an RSS feed that is compatible with podcasting and iTunes.
- Consider URL friendly services that allow you to use your own domain name or provide an easy to use URL such as site.com/program or program.site.com.
* for detailed specs on using iTunes please visit the iTunes: Making a Podcast Page
Media Hosts
Until a few years ago most web hosting providers offered general storage for media and web pages. In recent years many specialty providers have popped up specifically for media (and some just for podcasting) at free or reasonable prices. Here are a few that might meet your needs:
Audio Only
TalkShoe provides a free service that allows you to record audio podcasts over the phone, through desktop software called a ShoePhone which uses a headset connected to your computer or by uploading prerecorded audio. Media hosting is supported by ads inserted into media files. Accounts include podcast RSS feeds.
BlogTalkRadio provides a free service similar to TalkShoe. As of this writing, BlogTalkRadio only offers recordiing over the phone. Rumor has it they will be releasing a software based phone soon. Accounts include podcast RSS feeds and URL friendly pages for each program.
Video Only
Blip.tv provides a free service that allows you to upload videos up to 100MB in size. Their service will also transcode your video to Flash and provide a player to embed the video in other sites. Accounts also support iTunes compliant podcast RSS feeds.
Audio or Video
LibSyn is a service that provides media hosting, a web presence and an iTunes compliant podcast feed at low prices. You can upload audio or video from the browser or via their web based interface.
Podcaster News (a service of RawVoice) allows producers news related audio or video programs to enjoy free media hosting. Features include iTunes configured podcast RSS feeds, URL friendly pages and ability to upload audio or video from within the web browser.
Podcast Spot is similar to Libsyn but they will encode audio and video to multiple formats.
PodShow offers free audio and video hosting as well as a web presence and podcast RSS feed. Hosting costs are covered by the insertion of ads before and after the media.
PodOmatic offers free hosting of audio and video hosting with presence and podcast RSS feeds. Free hosting is supported by advertising.
The Internet Archive is a free hosting service that supports audio or video uploads from the browser. They do not support podcast RSS feeds or a web presence so you would use another presence and simply link to the files.
Presence Providers
These are services that specialize in letting you publish a website or blog very quickly and easily. They don't host media and may not support creation of a podcast RSS feed.
WordPress.com and Blogger both offer a free hosted website/blog service. WordPress.com offers more advanced comment and spam protection.
TypePad is a paid service with many features that offers a web presence starting at $4.95 per month.
RSS Feed Providers
A few service providers exist in order to help you create or enhance RSS feeds that support podcasting.
Feed For All is a desktop based program for Windows and Mac computers. Priced at $39.95 this tool allows you to create, manage and upload iTunes compliant podcast feeds to a web server.
FeedBurner is a free service that will enhance an existing feed to support podcasting and inclusion in the iTunes directory. FeedBurner requires that you start with an existing RSS feed as they do not create feeds. In addition to podcast enhancements FeedBurner also offers statistics on the number of people subscribed to your feed.
IceRocket RSS Builder is a free tool that allows you to create RSS feeds on the web. While not podcast compliant, you can use IceRocket in conjuction with FeedBurner to create a full featured podcast feed.
DirCaster is a free script that allows one to very easily start Podcasting MP3 files from their web host. This allows original content creators to easily create a feed that is also fully iTunes compliant!
Publishing Tips
Some media hosts allow you to upload your files directly from the web browser. Other require you to upload media via File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FileZilla is a free software tool for Windows based computers that will allow you to upload files to your media host from the desktop.
