You are here: Home > Blogging > Podcasting – Turns readers into listeners

Featured Post

  • An interview with writer Kathleen Maher
    This is the first in a series of interviews with people who responded to my request for interviewees in this post. I was delighted to receive a response from the hugely talented fiction writer, Kathleen Maher, who was a finalist in both 2007 and 2008 in the Weblog Awards for Best Literature Blog. Kathleen blogs at Diary of a Heretic and The Vitruvian Woman, she also contributes to the magazine, The View from Here. Your Blogger: [...]

    • Podcasting – Turns readers into listeners

    Friday, 17 October 2008, 19:36
    Category : Blogging, Podcasting, Software, Tools
    Tags :

    • blogger_permalink: /2008/10/podcasting-turns-readers-into-listeners.html
    • blogger_blog: writinganddesign.blogspot.com
    • btc_comment_counts: a:0:{}

    Yesterday was a big day for me. No, nothing of earth shattering importance happened but I did record and upload my first podcast for visitors to my personal blog to listen to. The podcast itself wasn’t all that thrilling and lasted less than two minutes, but it was fun and will open up a range of new possibilities. If you have ever considerd podcasting yourself, I would urge you to have a go. It’s a fairly simple process, and you don’t need lots of expensive equipment. If you are wondering what a podcast is, read on . . .

    What is a podcast?

    Basically a podcast is simply a recording which you add to your blog and which your readers can download and listen to. It may include your voice, music or any other type of sound, or a combination of these.

    What are they for?

    Podcasts can be used for many purposes. Some bloggers use them as an alternative to a written post, others set up online radio broadcasts, some people serialise stories or novels, some offer tutorials and how to guides. If you visit a dedicated directory you will find podcasts covering pretty much every subject you can think of, and probably a few that you haven’t.

    How do you create one?

    To create a podcast you need some basic equipment. Most of it you can obtain for free, but you will need to buy a microphone and headphones or a headset. Everything else you need can be found online. I used Audacity, Lame and the Feedburner service. The first two items are software, Audacity is used to record and edit podcasts, Lame exports your recording as an MP3 file. Feedburner is a free feed burning service, if you blog you probably already use it, but if not, it is extremely useful, and offers a number of clever features to help you manage your blog feed.

    But isn’t it really difficult?

    Truthfully, no, it isn’t. Before I began I had no prior knowledge of the subject, but thanks to the wonders of the web I found all the information I needed. In fact it took me longer to make a recording I was happy with than it did to understand the technical process. The following sites were particularly useful:

    They should tell you pretty much everything you need to know, but if you have any questions, you are welcome to leave a comment here. I can’t promise that I will know the answer but I’ll do what I can to help.

    Further Information:

    This post was first published on August 17th, 2006

    Latest free gift: A useful HTML cheat sheet, great for beginners or anyone who just needs to give their memory a jog now and again. To download click here.


    I appreciate you dropping by,
    Please leave a comment, don’t be shy


    Leave a comment


    You can add a link to follow you on twitter if you put your username in this box.
    Only needs to be added once (unless you change your username). No http or @
     Twitter