Podcasts at MIT

About Podcasts

Subscribe to a Podcast

Make a Podcast

Resources

Submit Your Podcast

If you have suggestions, questions, or comments about podcasting at MIT, send email to podcast-pilot@mit.edu.

Stay Tuned In!
If you are interested in posting and receiving information on podcasting, you can subscribe to MIT’s podcast mailing list. Visit the podcast-news mailing list page and add yourself to the list (certificates required).

Make a Podcast

Step 1: Create Your Audio File

It doesn't matter what platform or software you use to record or edit your podcast, but Audacity is a good option. Its a free open-source, cross-platform piece of software that allows you to mix multiple audio files. Along with Audacity you will need a plugin called LAME in order to export your audio file as an .mp3 file. You can find links to LAME and other recommended additional software add-ons on the Audacity download page.

Once you've finished your audio file, save a copy of it at a maximum quality in case you need to re-edit it in the future. For the podcast version, save it on your web server as an .mp3 file with the minimum bit rate you need and the appropriate ID3 tags.

Recommended guidelines:

• 48 - 56k Mono: lectures, audio books, talk radio
• 64k+ Stereo: music, music & talk combinations
• 128k Stereo: good quality music

For step-by-step instructions on using Audacity to create podcasts, visit Podcastingnews.com for their article on Saving MP3 Files For Podcasts.

Step 2: Add Your Audio File to an RSS 2.0 Feed

Once you've created your .mp3 file, you need to add a link to it within an RSS feed. The RSS feed is what your audience will subscribe to with podcatching software (e.g., iTunes, iPodder) and notify them when you have a new "episode" (.mp3 file) ready to download.

The RSS feed is written in XML and contains four main items: Title, Description, Link, Enclosure. The following is the source code for a typical feed:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> <rss version="2.0"> <channel> <title>your podcast title goes here </title> <description>Write a brief description of the overall theme of your podcast.</description> <link>http://www.yourURL.com</link> <language>en-us</language> <copyright>Copyright 2005</copyright> <lastBuildDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2005 21:00:00 -0500</lastBuildDate> <pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2005 21:00:00 -0500</pubDate> <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs> <webMaster>yourname@yourURL.com</webMaster> <item> <title>your episode title goes here </title> <link>http://www.yourURL.com/episodename.mp3</link> <description>Enter a description for this episode.</description> <enclosure url="http://www.yourURL.com/episodename.mp3" length="10469449" type="audio/mpeg"/> <category>Podcasts</category> <pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2005 21:00:00 -0500</pubDate> </item> </channel> </rss>

Copy and paste this text into a text editor, changing only the areas highlighted in bold. When you have finished, save it as an .xml file. When you have a new episode recorded and are ready to podcast it, simply update the <item> section of the RSS feed.

More detailed instructions on RSS files for podcasting:

• Podcast411.com - How to Create RSS/XML Feeds for Podcasts
• iTunes RSS Tags - How to Publish a Podcast on the iTunes Music Store

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Step 3: Publish Your Podcast

Save your RSS feed on your web server. Once you have it online, test that you've written the XML correctly by submitting its URL to a RSS validator like feedvalidator.org. Once you've validated the code, try to subscribe to your own podcast to make sure the feed is working correctly. If everything goes well, you are ready to publicize your feed.

Some suggested podcast directories to submit your feed - including to this website:

• Podcasts at MIT
• iTunes Podcast Directory (clicking link will launch iTunes application) - *requires specific iTunes tags
• Odeo
• Podcasting News

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