Podcasting

=Podcasting=

What is a Podcast?
//Podcasts are recorded audio, video, or images that can explain a specific idea or concept. Podcasts can be subscribed to and updated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. A great way to explain a podcast is if you think of a televison episode of your favorite show. You can record it via your DVR or DVD player. The same thing goes for a podcast. You can subscribe to various episodes through an RSS reader.//

What are the benefits to podcasting?

 * Standards Applied When Creating a Podcast:**



//According to author Angela Willis, here are five reasons to use podcasts://
1. **Portable** A podcast is portable. According to Apple's website, the first iPod was on the market and sold in November 2001 and the 100 Millionth iPod sold by 2007. Now that sounds to me like 100 million reasons to be podcasting! Now there has no doubt been millions more iPods sold, not to mention the other brands of mp3 players available on the market. With a podcast you have an opportunity to be with your subscribers where ever they are - in the car, on a plane, on the subway. That's marketing to go. 2. **Emotional** No matter how you write, words are just words without emotion behind them. The written word takes on the emotion of the reader, not the writer. Have you ever read an email from someone and completely misunderstood the tone of the message? This is common with written communication. However, with audio and podcasting there is no mistaking the emotion behind the words. The inflection and tone of the spoken word gives meaning that the written word cannot add. This isn't to say the written word doesn't have extremely high value, it does. However, when you really want to connect on a more personal level, audio is the way to go. 3. **Attention** Imagine the typical website visitor. They probably land on a hundred or more websites in any given week. Now think about the typical podcast subscriber. I know myself I have about twenty podcasts I subscribe to and only one that I listen to weekly. When someone takes the time to subscribe to a podcast, download it, put it on their computer or iPod and listen you definitely have their attention! This is not a web surfer quickly passing through, it is someone who's taken extra time to listen to what you have to say. That's highly valuable in today's short attention society. 4. **Feeds & Syndication** One of the most fabulous features of a podcast is that allows people to subscribe. This means you need to convince them you have value only once (of course to keep them subscribed you need to continue providing value). Compared to a website where people come and go, quite likely never return, I'm sure you'll agree that this alone is reason why you should podcast. 5. **Cheap** It's very expensive to start your own radio show offline but on the internet it is very cheap to get your message out to thousands. It's even possible to get started for free.

How to Make a Podcast Using GarageBand (Beginner's Guide)
1. Open GarageBand on your Macbook computer

2. A window will open that looks like the following image: a. Click on the purple icon that says Podcast and select the choose button. Save your podcast as whatever name works for you. = = 3. You will see a window that looks like the image below. You have four options on the left side of the screen.

//In order to utilize each of these options, you MUST select the option that you are working with first. If you are adding pictures, click on the Podcast option to the left of the words "Podcast Track". Then, if you wish to move to a speaking portion of your podcast, click on the heads to the left of the words Male or Female Voice.//
 * Option #1- The first row says the words "Podcast Track". This is the ONLY place where you can place images. Simply drag images from your iPhoto library directly onto the dark gray bar beside the words Podcast track. The length of time that the pictures are shown on the podcast is determined by the width of the picture. If you look at the top of the dark gray bar there are numbers, or seconds listed. If you want the picture to stay on while you explain it for 25 seconds, simply click on the right edge of the picture and drag it to the right so that the end of the picture stops at 25 seconds.
 * Options 2 and 3- The Male and Female Voice options are where you can actually speak into the program to explain or discuss a topic. Simply click on the head of the male or female and the bar will turn blue. Once it is on blue, there is a red circle button at the bottom of the window. Press the red circle and the computer will begin recording your voice. To stop recording, press your space bar.
 * Option #4- To add music or sound effects to your podcast, simply click on Jingles and slide music from your iTunes library onto the dark gray bar to the right of the Jingles option.



4. Once your podcast is complete, you must send it to iTunes so that it can be shrunk down into a movable file.
 * Go to the top of your screen and click on "Share"
 * Click on "Send Podcast to iTunes"
 * Select the iTunes playlist where you would like to save the podcast
 * Click share
 * The podcast will then be compressed and sent to iTunes