How to Create a Podcast

Podcasting is a method of publishing audio files to the Internet, which can then be automatically downloaded to a computer, iPod, MP3 player or other portable media device. For anyone who loves listening to the wide variety of internet audio programming, but can't always find the time to listen to their favorite shows when they're scheduled or take the time to download them manually, podcasting is the solution. It allows you to listen to your favorite content, at your convenience.

Domain
The first thing necessary is a domain, and a host on which to store the media files for the podcast. Getting a domain is simple and easy, there are many domain registrars that can register a domain for someone for a small fee. Some of these domain registrars are Web Hosting Pad, Fastdomain, Front Page, Blue Host, iPower, or Omnis Network are some that provide domains. The domain registrar will, for a small fee, enter the chosen domain, provided it is not being used, into the computers that form the backbone of the internet. These computers will be told where the domain is located on the internet; what host it is that holds the domain's information. In order to give them that information, the name servers that are held by the host need to be associated with the domain.

Host
Once the domain is in place, a good host should be found. The host that is chosen should offer a large amount of both disk space and a much larger amount bandwidth. Disk space is necessary because the site which holds the podcast will be storing large media files; audio or video files that take up a lot of space and are difficult to compress. The large bandwidth is necessary because transferring these large files many times to many different people will use up the quota quickly. A good amount of disk space would be several GigaBytes, bandwidth should be in the tens or hundreds of Gigabytes. Once the host is set up, it should offer you a couple of addresses called nameservers. Inputting these server addresses into the site where the domain was registered will complete the domain setup and allow the site to be found on the internet.

Diraster.php
Once the site has been set up and the user has access to the host server, a small program called dircaster.php should be customized for your site, and can be used to automatically generate the RSS feed that the subscribers will download. The mp3 files should be uploaded to the proper directory after all the information about the file has been attached. After they are in the directory, the address of dircaster.php, as long as it is in the same directory as the mp3 files, will generate an RSS file that will tell your subscribers where to download the latest podcasts from. To update and and a new episode, create and upload the new mp3 file to the same directory. When dircaster.php is accessed, it will recognize the new file and relay the information on to your visitors.

According to research from The Diffusion Group, 11.4 million listeners are expected to download a podcast this year, climbing to almost 75 million by 2010. Apple's iTunes already offers 15,000 podcasts and listeners have signed up for more than 7 million subscriptions. So what's the reason for this rapid adoption? Because podcasting gives people more control over what they listen to, when they want to and the freedom to take their programs out and about with them.

But podcasting is more than just TiVo for Internet Radio. Individuals are taking an increasingly active role in creating their online lives and, as a result, generate the majority of content found on the Internet. Combined with human nature to form groups, share information and advance personal agendas through interaction with others, podcasting represents a significant shift in the way we communicate, receive and discover information.

Anyone can create a podcast and, regardless of the topic, find an online audience that shares the same interest and will subscribe to the feed, or “show,” to automatically receive new episodes. But podcasting is more than having this 15 minutes of fame. Educators are using podcasts to interact with their students. Terrestrial radio is using it to regain listeners. It's even changing the way media covers and distributes news and entertainment, advertisers target pitches at consumers and companies design and sell their products and services.