johnhendron.net: hendron’s digest - a weblog

Blogging allows us to quickly get content on the Web. Blogging editor applications are already emerging for handheld devices and so-called smart phones. With just an Internet connection, we can establish a blog for free, and begin to publish content. Blog content is not only read, but is also interactive, through trackbacks to a reader’s blog, or through comments left to extend the “conversation.” Blogging, however, can also be used to publish podcasts. In the chapters on Audacity and GarageBand, we look at how to record and edit content. In this last section here, we will use the free Blogger.com platform and another free Website, FeedBurner, to publish an RSS 2.0, podcast-capble newsfeed. Using a blog, we use its ability to automatically create RSS newsfeeds to create multimedia content others can subscribe to.

Some weblogs support podcast publishing without “help” from FeedBurner. If your blog does not support RSS attachments, this method will convert Atom and RSS 1.0 feeds into the RSS 2.0-flavor required for podcasting. Publishing using Blogger and FeedBurner is a multi-step process:

1. Create a free Blogger.com blog. If you have a Google Account, setting up a blog is simple. Go to http://www.blogger.com, and sign-in. You can also create a new Google Account from the Blogger homepage. A good name for your blog is the title of your podcast.
2. Upload your podcast file to a web server. You will need some space online to host your podcast. If it is a popular podcast, check bandwidth requirements. Options include a school server that is accessible on the Internet, or a Web space provided by a website hosting company. To get started, you may have space available for free through your Internet service provider (ISP).
3. From the Blogger “Dashboard,” create a new post in Blogger. Describe the podcast in the blog entry space, and link to the podcast file. The link can use the HTML for a hyperlink (<a href="…">Listen to this podcast</a>), or use the link button in the Blogger blog composition toolbar. The title of your blog post should be the title of your podcast episode. Publish the blog entry.
4. Copy your blog’s newsfeed URL (Blogger newsfeeds appear in this format: http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default). Copy the URL where you see a “Subscribe to Posts” link on your blog.
5. Go to FeedBurner.com. Paste your newsfeed URL into Feedburner, below the invitation to “Start FeedBurning now.”
6. Check the “I am Podcaster!” option before clicking “Next.” In the next screen, sign-up for a FeedBurner account if you do not already have one.
7. Copy-paste the new Feedburner-created RSS newsfeed into a safe place: this is your podcast newsfeed.

While we went through several steps to get started with publishing podcasts through a blog, in the future, you will go through two primary steps in publishing new podcasts. First, upload the podcast file to a server, and second, write a new blog post that includes a link to the podcast file. The RSS newsfeeds will automatically be updated.

Alternatively, for a fee, there are easier solutions for publishing your podcast files. Libsyn Pro (http://libsynpro.com/) is a subscription service that hosts your podcast files and creates RSS feeds. This is a good solution for a school where access to space on a Web server for publishing podcasts does not exist.

Feed for All for Windows and Macintosh, and Feeder for Macintosh are two popular desktop applications that make easy work out of creating the XML file for RSS 2.0, instead of having to hand-code the RSS. This is how they work.

1. Upload your media file to the server via FTP.
2. Note the address (URL) of this file.
3. Create a new entry in the RSS-creation application.
4. Include meta-data for the podcast, including a description about the content you have recorded.
5. Save your work, and you will have an updated XML file.
6. Transfer this file via FTP to the Web server.
7. Point the public to this file with one of many RSS badges or buttons from your Web site.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 19th, 2007 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.