Podcasting In Four Easy Steps

Advertisers, marketers and media relations are paying serious attention to portable media as a method to reach audiences.

Spending on advertising in blogs, podcasts, and real simple syndication (RSS) feeds is expected to rise 145 percent to $49.8 million this year, according to a recent report by PQ Media LLC. The research firm said music, comedy, and science and technology combined hold 27.3 percent share of downloads.

Rather than dig through the mounds of information on the Internet, here are four helpful steps for getting started with your own podcast.

1. Invest in a digital recorder or a microphone. A cheap one will typically pick up background noise. Behringer offers a Studio Condenser Microphone C-1 for $49.99. If money is no object, look for a large diaphragm condenser microphone to reproduce a warm representation of your voice. A good mic requires an external power source and could set you back up to $500.

Sony makes several digital recorders, such as the ICD-BM1, that uses memory sticks to store audio files. MiniDisc Players also do the trick.2. Podcasting requires audio software. Several companies that develop open source audio software offer the basics for free. A couple of these are Audacity, and WavePad from NCH Swift Sound.

3. If you have video, edit it.Some experts say it takes more skill to edit video than audio. Maybe so, but software companies, such as muvee Technologies, have made it easier.

Turn over the raw video content to muvee autoProducer 5, set a few options, such as the video's run time, and chose from the package's style and music content. Editors can save files in MP3, WAV, WMA, and ACC formats. The "Creative Tips and Tricks" section on muvee's site walks you through video-editing techniques, if needed. Otherwise, the software itself does the rest.

4. Find a host.Podcasters will need a place to host the audio files and a Web site to let listeners subscribe to the podcast through a real simple syndication (RSS) feed, such as Feedburner Inc. or Liberated Syndication Network

LSN charges $5 per month for 100MB of file storage. There are also sites that cost nothing.Ourmedia hosts podcasts for free. Drupal, an open-source content management platform, offers free hosting through its Bryght hosted service. Other sites also participate in an open registry, storing material on their servers. The Internet Archive has agreed to provide free storage space and free bandwidth for media files published by Ourmedia members forever, it says on its Web site.

With these basics under your belt, you'll be podcasting in no time.