1. Computing & Technology

Podcasting is Blogging With a Voice

Record Your Blog and Post It

From , former About.com Guide

Now you can do your blogging and online diary entries with sound. It's called podcasting. Instead of typing your blogs you can record them. Think of what podcasting will mean for your Web site. With podcasting your readers can now get to know you at a new level. Many people like to listen to sound files and would rather listen to a podcasting blog than read a long written blog.

You can do podcasting with a few simple tips. Record your podcasting blog and put it on your site or use a podcasting service to host your podcasting blogs. Then your readers can listen to your podcasting blogs instead of read your written blogs. They can also download your podcasting blogs onto their Ipod or MP3 player and listen to what you have to say while they're doing something else. If you use a podcasting hosting service they can subscribe to your podcasting blog and everytime you update it they will receive notice.

Creating Your Podcasting Sound File

If you want to create your own podcasting blog I recommend you use Audacity. Audacity makes creating sound files in MP3 format really easy. Download and install Audacity and turn it on. Make sure your microphone and headphones are plugged into the right place and work properly.

When you have decided what you want to say on your podcasting blog and are ready to start recording all you have to do is click on the button with the red dot, this one will start your recording. Start speaking and remember to speak clearly. When you have finished saying what you want to say click on the button with the yellow square, this button will stop your recording. Now play it back to see how it sounds by clicking the green arrow.

When you're ready to save your recording you have a few options. You can save it as is but most people won't be able to hear it this way unless they also have Audacity on their computer. Your best bet is to save it as a WAV or MP3 file. WAV files are usually sound bites or something small. If you want your readers to be able to download your podcasts or hear them on a podcast hosting service then you should consider saving them as MP3 files.

To save your podcast as an MP3 file click on "File" in the menu at the top of Audacity and then scroll down and click on "Export As MP3". Choose where on your computer you want your file saved to so you can find it easily later, give it a name and then click on "Save". In the next box you can give your podcast a title, add your name and add comments. This box is set up for adding music files but you can use it for your podcast just as well (under "genre" there is an option for "other" if you want to use that).

After you enter your information into the box it will start to save the file to wherever you told it to save to. Now go to where you save your file and click on it to listen to it. When it's perfect you are ready to add it to your Web site.

Adding Your New File To Your Site

Now you need to add your sound file to your Web site. If you have a Web site hosting service with a file upload program then you can use that. If not then you need to use FTP. If you need help using FTP see:

What's FTP? How Do I Use It?

Buy MP3 Players

If you want an MP3 player so you can download and listen to other people's podcasts try some of the really cool MP3 players I have listed on:

Portable File Storage and MP3 Players.

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