For anyone who wants to begin creating a podcast, podcast hosting is the most important part. Before anyone can begin distributing a podcast, they need a place to store the files and keep the feed file that will tell their subscribers about the new episodes available. The first thing required is a domain name where the site will be located. Many domain registrars are available who will help one register a domain name for a small fee.

Once the domain is registered, hosting is required, and again there are many different companies willing to do the hosting for a small fee. One of those is bluehost.com, but many others are available. When looking for a host, the most important thing is to make sure that a lot bandwidth and storage space is available and cheap. Since podcasting deals with large media files, a lot of disk space will be taken up storing the files and bandwidth will be eaten quickly when they are downloaded by the subscribers.

After podcast hosting has been acquired, it needs to be used and the site needs to be set up. The DNS addresses of the site need to be set to the addresses that the host provides you so that the servers that underlie the internet will know where your site is. DNS addresses can be set by going to the domain registrar that was used to acquire the domain and inputting the addresses provided by the host. After that is done, it will take a few days before the master list the domain registrar updates will be shared throughout the internet and all name servers know where to find your specific domain. You can then go about setting up your own podcast.

Using the podcast hosting you now have, you will need to look at the disk space allocated to the site using something called and FTP browser. The host may provide one as part of their hosting plan, but if not there are many available free to choose from. Using the FTP browser, log on to the host and upload a file called dircaster after editing it to fit the specifics of the site. Dircaster is an easy to find piece of coding that generates a feed file by looking at the contents of its directory or folder. The individual episodes to be podcasted can then be uploaded to the same folder as dircaster for cataloguing. Make sure that all the Meta data or information about the mp3 file is correct before doing so.

The podcast hosting you now have will allow you to distribute a podcast. It would be best to upload more to the site, such as an index page that tells visitors about the podcast and provides the address of the file dircaster on your site. When they subscribe to that file, the podcast client thy use will access it and receive information about the latest podcasts available.

A podcast client is the software used to access and download podcasts. Podcast clients are also known as media aggregators, programs designed to automatically access an online file, or feed, and download the audio or video file associated with it. Hundreds of these programs exist, with names like IpodderX, Juice, Nimiq and PodSpider. These podcast clients are easy to find, and because there are so many available for free, it is easy to find one that suits an individual’s needs and style.

These programs run on the user’s computer, periodically downloading a small RSS file from sites that it has been told to monitor. The file tells the program about an audio or video file stored on the server, and the podcast client then downloads that file for the user to view or listen to.

The podcast client thus allows the user to view information on a wide range of topics from their computer, without even using a web browser. Just like blogs let people find writers they enjoyed for any niche topic they were interested in, podcasts let people do them same for audio and video. It’s as if thousands of radio and television channels were created to serve every possible interest, and more were made every day. Using the podcast client to access and download the files makes it as easy to keep up with the sites one likes as it is to publish the feed.

Comedy Podcasts

Many podcasts are available to subscribe to and watch in a variety of genres, and one of these is the comedy podcast. Every small scale wannabe writer has a chance to become a comedian through podcasting, since the low entry cost allows people to start podcasting with minimum effort and money. To find some of these comedy podcasters, check a podcast directory. A podcast directory is a listing of many, sometimes several thousands, of podcasts submitted and divided into categories. A podcast directory will probably have a large number of comedy podcasts available to subscribe to.

These comedy podcasts are usually created by a small team of people who do the work in their free time, as a hobby, not as a source of income. Because it is a hobby, they’re more willing to give the work away for free, for nothing more than recognition, probably in the hopes they can parlay that recognition into a more mainstream job. Some more corporate groups also put together comedy podcasts, however. The satirical comedy web site ‘TheOnion’ puts out a regular comedy podcast, featuring readings from their fake news site.

Placing a comedy podcast on the Internet has several advantages for the creators. They get to showcase their work, easily distributing their art to many people. This following is likely to be unusually passionate, following the artist with more enthusiasm than the artist’s average audience. The comedian has a chance to be more open with the audience, engaging in a sort of dialogue with them.

The comedian broadcasts the files, which enter the computer of the user, already a more personal level than simply hearing the jokester on the radio or on television. Comedy podcast subscribers will often then write back to the podcaster, or leave comments on the blog which often accompanies a podcast site. This can give them a degree of input and connection with the writers of the comedy podcast that is far removed from other styles of comedy distribution.

The writers and producers of a comedy podcast thus benefit from several advantages of the podcast form. It is cheap and easy to set up, and uses a distribution mechanism that is also easy to use. The way the podcast form is designed, as well, creates greater connection between the producer and the subscribers. The comedy writer has a greater ability to interact with the subscribers and to find out what they appreciate or do not.

Because podcasting is so simple to get involved in, requiring only a small investment to get started, many amateur comedy writers have begun starting their own shows and distributing the feed. It is likely, because of the unique connection podcasting offers between writer and listener, that we will see at least some of these amateur comedians make the leap to the professional stage.

Podcasting is a method of giving out media files over the Internet. But how exactly is a podcast created? Read on and this article will tell you all you need to know.

First of all you will need a domain name. This will give your subscribers the location of where they can obtain your media files. If you can, choose a name which is easy to remember and describes the type of podcast you are publishing. Use a domain register such as eNom or GoDaddy to register your domain name.

The next thing you will need is a web host. There are many companies you can use, for example, Host Gator or StartLogic. As you will be storing a large amount of media files it is best to think about getting a big disk space when you are looking for a web host. For instance, a 2-minute mp3 file may be 2 MB in size. Quite a few web hosting companies offer several GB in disk space at an extremely low monthly cost. Apart from the disk space, you should also consider the amount of bandwidth the company is providing. This is the quantity of data that can be moved to and from your host each month. As your data files will be large, even a few subscribers can easily use up all of your bandwidth in a short space of time. Somewhere between ten and one hundred GB of bandwidth may be sufficient, but keep an eye on this and make sure you increase your bandwidth as your subscribers swell in number.

Upon selection of your web hosting company you will be provided with name servers which you will apply to your domain name later on. To finish setting up your site, you will need to input the name servers into the site where your domain name is registered and then your site will be visible on the Internet.

When your site is set up you should search the Internet and download dircaster.php. Arrange this program to show the particulars of your domain and then upload to your site accordingly.

The next step is to record the media file, which is known as an episode, that you are going to podcast. Audacity, from audacity.sourceforge-dot-net is handy software to use and it is a free and open source to record and edit sounds. You can then record your episode from a CD, the computer’s sound card, a microphone or even a VOIP conversation and then edit the file by mixing tracks and cutting or adding segments. You also need to be adding tags and descriptions on your episode too.

Upload this media file in the same directory as the dircaster.php. The dircaster will then generate a RSS feed informing your subscribers all about the new file that is available for them to download.

Setting up a podcast is not difficult and the good news is that it does not cost much either. The required software is free and downloadable from the Internet. If you feel you have something to share with others of like minds, then podcasting is a super way to supply your information to the Internet.

What exactly do you use the Internet for? It is as a means of retrieving information? Do you have to visit several different websites to gather together the facts you are looking for? If the answer to these questions is yes, how would you feel if the data required came to you without the necessity of you spending hours on end surfing the net?

You will be pleased to know that with podcasting this is now possible!

So, what exactly is a podcast? If you think of the word “broadcast”, what springs to mind? Could it be a picture of some description? Do you envisage someone listening to the news bulletin on the radio? You may see spectators watching the game on TV or a PC on a network putting out packets for all other networks to receive? We can work out from this that broadcasting is a means of sending out information to a specific audience. Such audiences will be able to accept and decipher the signals being sent out as long as they have the right equipment to do so.

Podcasting works in a similar way by sending out digital and machine readable files to subscribers from a server. Although this is a type of file-sharing over the Internet just like streaming or direct downloading, podcasting is unique because it is being subscribed to, it is syndicated and new data is automatically downloaded as it is added. To enable this to happen a feed reader or aggregator such as Atom or RSS is used. Subscribers have software known as a podcatching client, which makes full use of the features of the syndication of the podcast. Apple’s iTunes, Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace, Juice, and Podget are all examples of such podcatching clients.

Episodes or programs received from podcasters can be played on a computer or transferred to an iPod or some other form of portable media player. If you think about it the word “podcast” is a mix of two other words, namely “iPod” and “broadcast”. As you may already be aware, the iPod is the first portable piece of equipment in which the podcasting applications were developed.

At the beginning podcasting was used to send radio-style shows but it has now progressed to podcasters becoming DJs and stars of their own radio and TV shows. People now have the opportunity to showcase just what they can do by reaching their audiences in this inexpensive way. Podcasting is the method that well known companies, like NPR and CNN, give out their contents to end users by and it is also used to distribute school lessons, conference meeting alerts and updates and even the police employ this method to keep the public up to date on safety issues.

Although podcasting does involve the sharing of media files, it also proves to have so many other uses such as providing software updates and product assessment programs and it is sure to drastically change the way in which the Internet is used over the years to come.

Podcasting is the sharing of audio or video files. For example, radio programs or music videos broadcasting over the Internet using specific web feed formats such as RSS or Atom syndication. This has become one of the new hottest trends to hit the Internet right now. Its popularity is growing along with the hype.

To create audio content should be very easy, considering it can be anything you like at all. Music, audio books, or radio shows. There is no set method on how to compose audio content. Whatever the individual likes is what these shows should be in reference to. Depending on if you have a Mac or a PC, you will want to consider using Garage Band for the Mac user, or if you are a PC user, you will want to use Audacity. Both are excellent choices since they are powerful and seem to be very popular. The best part about both these programs is that there are both free.

When finished with your audio show you will want to save it at the highest quality in the original format of audio application. That way if you need to go back and do some editing, there will already be a good version saved. Once audio subject matter is finished, it should be saved in MP3 format. This is to all intents and purposes the standard format for podcasts. MP3 format seems to be the best format to stick with. It seems to be very universal and user friendly. Plus, if you go to any other format some users may not be able to use your podcast. And you want to make it available to as many people as possible.

Some suggested settings to use that offer superior outcomes that have minimum bit rate are as follows:

48 to 56k Mono, sermons, audio books, talk radio

64k plus stereo, music, music and talk combinations

128k stereo, good quality music

.mp3 file extension is how all these files should be saved.

In order to publish an MP3 file, you will need to save it to your web browser. It can then be tested on any MP3 player. It is easy to manage and find your files that you may want to put them all into a directory. These file can go anywhere on the site, but for convenience keeping them in the same directory seems to be the best in the long run.

Podcast feeds are RSS files that explain your podcast. They also contain information for each show. An RSS file is a text file that associates to MP3 files. Any text editor can be used to generate RSS news feed. Blogging programs really seem to be very popular right now with most podcasters. This automatically generates news feeds.

If you are have a blogging tool that lets you position enclosures, produce an item for each MP3 file that is available and use the URL of an audio content as an enclosure. If blogging tool does not maintain enclosures, do not worry. With the growing recognition of podcasts, there for sure soon will be one day.

For the time being, all of your editing of your RSS file can be done with any type of text editor to insert the enclosure tag. And you always want to make sure to save RSS file with the .rss or .xml extension. Generally, you will be looking for a news feed that holds all of your podcasts in the order from the newest to the oldest.

To publish your podcast news feed you will need to pass on your RSS file to your web server. Validate it using the RSS validator. If it is valid, it is ready to be published on the Internet. The last things you will really need to do are checking your podcast and publish it. There are several great podcasting logos out there so you will want to make sure you can find yours easily enough. With all of this said and done do not forget to ad your website to your podcast directory.

With the growing popularity of podcasting it seems to be catching on everywhere. It is becoming more common. No matter what it is for whether it is audio books, sermons or for educational purposes. Whatever the reason may be it seems to be one of the easiest forms of distributing information over the Internet so far.