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Podcasts 101
Subscribing
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How do I subscribe?
Find a podcast you like, then click "Subscribe." When you do this, you'll actually be downloading a small text file called a ".pcast" file. This tells your music software (like the PodcastJCI Music Engine or Apple iTunes) what podcast to download. Then you can get notifications of new episodes whenever they're available.
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Podcasts in the PodcastJCI Subscriptions
If you have the PodcastJCI Music Engine software, you can get the entire PodcastJCI experience without launching a browser. All you need to add is the podcast plug-in, if you haven't already downloaded it, click here Once you have the music engine and plug-in installed, finding new podcasts and subscribing to them is easy. Browse the PodcastJCI web site (look for the "PodcastJCI" button on the left of the PodcastJCI Music Engine), or check out the PodcastJCI section within PodcastJCI Music Engine. Hitting the "Subscribe" button from either location will add a podcast subscription to PodcastJCI Music Engine You can see all your subscriptions in the "My Podcasts" tab located in the left menu of PodcastJCI Music Engine. Here, you'll find all your podcast subscriptions, a list of episodes you've downloaded, and a list of new episodes. You can manage these episodes like you would manage songs in PodcastJCI Music Engine.
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Podcasts in Apple iTunes
PodcastJCI works great with iTunes. Use PodcastJCI to find great podcasts, then use it to subscribe to them in iTunes. You'll need the latest version of iTunes, which you can download from Apple http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. Once you have iTunes installed, you can subscribe to podcasts on PodcastJCI by clicking the "Subscribe" button. After you selected "Open" in iTunes at the file dialog, iTunes will automatically recognize the .pcast file that you opened and will add your subscription to the "Podcasts" tab in iTunes. Learn more about iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/overview/.
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Podcasts in Windows Media Player, Winamp, and Other Programs
If you prefer to use other programs like Windows Media Player, you need software to "aggregate" your podcasts. Some players don't
automatically go grab the new episodes of the podcasts you subscribe to. That's where the aggregator comes in. You add the podcast to the aggregator, and the aggregator makes sure it shows up in the player. We recommend the free Juice Receiver http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php. Just follow the simple instructions on the site to download and install the program. When you click "Subscribe" on PodcastJCI and choose "Open" on the subsequent file dialog, iPodder Lemon will recognize the .pcast file and add your subscription to the "Subscriptions" tab in iPodder. From there, you can check for updates to your podcast subscriptions and manage your downloads. iPodder knows to synch the podcast episodes you have downloaded with your preferred player.
Tags
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What are tags?
Tags are short descriptions that you can enter about any podcast. If you add tags and other people add tags, suddenly there's a whole lot more information about the podcast to help describe it. This improves search results and helps everyone figure out whether or not they want to listen to a podcast.
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What should tags be about?
Anything. As long as it's related to that podcast! Tags can be topics, categories, or keywords. They can be the name of the person speaking or the name of the person being talked about. The more you can say about the podcast, the better!
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How do I add tags to a podcast?
Find the podcast, and go to its description page. Type in some tags, separated by commas, and click "Save." Now you've tagged it! If you're a podcast publisher, feel free to go in and tag your podcasts. This will make it easier for others to find your podcast.
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Why should I add a tag if it's already listed?
The more people who enter the same tag, the more likely that the tag is a good one. So enter a tag that is already listed if you think it's a good one! You'll see that some tags will have bigger fonts. Those tags have been voted for by many people.
Troubleshooting
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When I click "Listen," nothing happens.
If nothing happens, make sure the player wasn't blocked by a pop-up blocker. If it was, set your pop-up blocker to allow pop-ups from http://www.podcastjci.com.
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The file I'm trying to listen to doesn't seem to work.
If you can't play a file, there are a few possible problems. If the file ends with ".m4a" then it can only be played in Apple iTunes. You'll need to download the file to your computer and open it with iTunes. In some cases, the file will have been deleted by the publisher, which prevents access.
Publishing 101
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I don't know what to talk about in my podcast.
You can create a podcast about pretty much anything. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Make audio walking tours of your city or a favorite museum.
- Record a restaurant review while you're actually dining.
- Broadcast your band playing original music.
- Talk about your favorite sports team.
- Give your own reviews of movies, TV shows, or CDs.
- Start a gossip channel about Hollywood celebrities.
- Give dating tips.
- Read from your own original poetry or short stories.
- Create an audio cooking show.
- React to current events and the latest news.
- Share some of the interesting highlights of your daily life.
- Interview friends and family on different topics each week.
- Record your experiences while traveling.
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How can I make my MP3 file smaller?
One way is to reduce the recording rate. Another way to reduce your file size is to lower your recording bit rate. We recommend a minimum of 32 kbps for talk-only podcasts, and no less than 64 kbps (and ideally 128 kbps) for podcasts containing music.
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What is web hosting?
Web hosting is a service that stores web pages, audio files, or any other content, and makes them accessible on the Internet. For a
monthly fee, your podcast can be served to the public.
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What are some of my web hosting options?
There are a variety of free and paid web hosting options available on the Internet. Free options are a good way to get started. As your podcast gets popular and as you add more shows, you may need to move up to a paid service. Paid services generally provide larger storage, faster access times, and greater reliability. You can use any hosting service on the Web, but here are a few from Yahoo!:
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What is FTP, and how do I use it?
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It's a convenient way to send files across the Internet. It's easy to transfer files to your web host, you using an FTP program. Often, FTP clients are bundled with your Internet service provider package. If not, you can download one from Yahoo!. After you connect to the FTP server, you can directly access the directory containing your files by entering the File Manager in GeoCities or Yahoo! Small Business. You'll be able to see the files in your directory, as well as edit them, delete them, rename them, and more. If you want to use Yahoo!'s Easy Upload tool to upload your files, just go to your File Manager and click "Upload Files." This will take you to the Easy Upload tool.
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What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication," and it's way of formatting information for public distribution on the Internet. An RSS feed also lets people subscribe to your podcast and automatically get updates of your new content. An RSS feed is a text file that tells PodcastJCI and software like iTunes how to find and get your podcast.
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What kind of copyright protection do I have over my content?
You can choose what copyright makes the most sense for you. Many podcasts use a Creative Commons -
http://creativecommons.org/ license. This type of copyright protection lets you retain some rights to your work, but it also encourages sharing.
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What legal considerations should I consider when creating my own podcast?You should be aware of U.S. and international laws about including and publishing copyrighted music in your podcast. Here are some resources that might be helpful:
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What is podsafe music, and where can I find some?
Podsafe music is any audio content that can be legally included a podcast. There are a variety of sources for podsafe music. Here are just a few options:
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Where can I learn more about podcast publishing?
These are some other great sources of information for how to make your own podcast:
Podcasting Forums
Books
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Books
- Podcasting by Todd Cochrane
- Podcasting Hacks by Jack Herrington
- Podcasting for Dummies by Tee Morris and Evo Terra
- Secrets of Podcasting by Bart Farkas
- Absolute Beginner's Guide to Podcasting by George Colombo and Curtis Franklin, Jr.
- 32 Podcasting and Other Businesses to Open Showing People How to Cut Expenses by Anne Hart
- Podcast Solution by Michael Geoghegan and Dan Klass
- Web Radio by Chris Priestman
Regional Meetings about Podcasting
Advanced Publishing
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How frequently does PodcastJCI update the index?
A podcast is a lot like food; it's better when it's hot. So we update the index every single day to find the most recent podcasts.
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How do I make sure I'm showing up in Search Results?
Make sure you've submitted your podcast to us. If you've submitted it, you'll be there. We can't promise that you'll be at the top, but you will appear somewhere in the list of results.
For instructions on how to submit your podcast to PodcastJCI, please see the help topic on "How do I add podcasts to PodcastJCI's search index?"
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What fields should I include in my Podcast (RSS feed)?
You can include any valid RSS fields or namespaces, but if you want your podcast to look its best in PodcastJCI make sure to use the following fields at the very least. Declarations: If you don't include these at the beginning of your file, we might not correctly represent your podcast. Here's the minimum set to include: rss version="2.0" xmlns:itunes= "http://www.itunes.com/DTDs/Podcast-0.dtd" xmlns:media= "http://search.PodcastJCI.com/mrss/" For the Series (the
entire podcast):
- title
- description
- itunes:image (Optional, if you want an image. Supported types include: .png, .jpg, .gif)
- itunes:author
- link
- pubDate
For each Episode
- title
- description
- pubdate
- itunes:author
- enclosure (This should include url, type, and, optionally, length. Valid types include "audio/mpeg" and "video/mpeg")
If you want details on these fields, check out these resources:
Adding podcasts to PodcastJCI
PodcastJCI Ratings Badge
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What is the PodcastJC Ratings Badge?
The publisher of this page has placed this box on his or her page to show how users of PodcastJCI have rated their podcast.
PodcastJCI takes your privacy seriously. Only aggregate podcast ratings information is displayed in the PodcastJCI Rating box. No
personally identifiable information about you is shared with the publisher of this site.
PodcastJCI checks to see if there are any PodcastJCI cookies present in order to present appropriate content to the user within the
PodcastJCI Ratings box. PodcastJCI does not collect these cookies, or use them in any other way.
For more information on how we handle your privacy, see our privacy policy.
PodcastJCI takes your web safety very seriously, so while the rating and review process begins offsite, you'll be brought back to PodcastJCI to complete it. You may be asked to log in, so make sure you see "PodcastJCI.com" in the location bar of your browser.
Make sure a "trailing slash" appears after "PodcastJCI.com" -- sites that impersonate PodcastJCI will not have the "trailing slash."
For example, "http://www. PodcastJCI.com:login&mode=secure&i=b35870c196e2fd4a&q=1@16909060" is a bogus URL.
To find your Series ID:
1) Navigate to your podcast page on the PodcastJCI site (e.g. http://www.PodcastJCI.com/series?s=bb9bd351bc27e4ec039d10dfe3a74a2f )
2) Highlight and copy the string of characters following the "/series?s=" (in the above example, the string would be: "bb9bd351bc27e4ec039d10dfe3a74a2f")
3) Paste this string into the box next to "Your Series ID on PodcastJCI:"
Ratings Badge Formatting Tips
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