Podcasting

The topic of podcasting came up at the IT Division Board meeting in January.  There is an interest among Board members of learning more about podcasting and perhaps incorporating podcasting into division activities. 

I have been collecting podcasting link in Del.icio.us here.  These are web sites that I have found useful on the topic in regards to the hardware and software needed.  I'm sure there are others and I'll continue to add those that help me towards the goal of creating a podcasting setup for a library client.

Working with a colleague on a specific podcasting setup (for this library client) has been quite interesting.  Podcasting can be quite inexpensive to do, but to have better quality, you need to spend some more money.  It also requires a computer that can handle the input and output.

Computer: You can use a Mac or PC.  The computer will need decent hard drive space since the audio files will be large.   So you will want a hard drive that is many gigs in size (probably 40MB+).  One person said that he created a 3 minute .mp3 file that was about 750 KB in size.  So a 15 minute podcast, might be 3.5 GB.

The computer will need to have USB 2.0 or FireWire 400 for input capabilities. 

The computer will also need more RAM than the minimum.  We tend to buy computers will the minimum amount of RAM, but the things we want to do now are becoming more graphical and more multimedia, which requires more RAM. So have 1 MB of RAM or more.

As for the podcasting setup, we thinking of:

• Microphone: Shure SM-58 or Shure SM-57
• Microphone accessories: desk stands, clips, wires, etc.
• Audio Interface: Tascam US-122 interface (USB 2.0) to connect the mics to the computer
• Audio editor: Audacity
• Audio recording program: Audacity
• Headphones

It has been suggested that we do an external hard drive for offloading (backing up) the audio files.  I need to ask some questions about this, since the podcasts will be loaded on a server anyway.  Maybe we could backup on CD?  mmm...questions....

Are you podcasting? If yes, what is your setup for recording yourself?  Do you do interviews with your setup?  If yes, how do you handle that equipment-wise?   And what lessons have you learned about your setup that you wish you had known upfront?  Please leave comments...lots of people in the Division would like to know!

Comments

[Christina Pikas]

National Geographic library staff did a session for the DC Chapter about a year ago that was fabulous. I think they are able to get time in their organization's professional studios, though, to record.

[David Bigwood]

Yes, I've been podcasting weekly for over a year. It is just a reading of the What's New from the LPI library news page. The content is there, I do a bit of tweaking to make it better for listening rather than reading. It lasts about 3 to 6 minuets.

The set-up is very simple. My home computer, Audacity, a very inexpensive Radio Shack mike. I do the RSS by hand, but as a cataloger mark-up is a snap.

If I was going to do interviews, I'd need more stuff, but this works for now.

Give it a listen.

[Christine Ponte]

I podcast a technology news newsletter (only available on our intranet). I have tried a couple of methods including Audacity, but not being super technical found that to be a bit daunting. I am now working with someone who does the recording and editing for me. I don't interview, but I have participated in group podcasting discussions. This works really well, is very interactive and interesting to listen to. An advantage to multiple voices is that you can have a longer recording and maintain your audience. I have found that one voice can get a little monotonous and try to keep my podcasts short- not more than 5 minutes or so. Music and bumps (coming up next, or stay tuned for...) help break up the flow and help keep attention too. I have also found it a good way to reach a new more technology oriented audience for the newsletter- it increases the readership by giving them a taste of what the content is.