Pod casts have been around for a few years now, and there is no sign of them dying off anytime soon. With more and more people making the switch to iPods, iPhones and the iPod Touch, pod casts are now reaching a wider market than ever before.

Of course you don't need a portable "i" device to listen to a podcast. I spend my afternoons at work catching up on the latest web design and web 2.0 pod casts on my laptop.

Why Pod Cast?

The reason the pod cast is so great is it is a part of your website that contains relative information to the user with the added bonus that they can listen to it on demand, providing they have previously downloaded the pod cast of course.  Consider how many people in London alone take the tube to work and own an "i" device.

That's a HUGE market.

On the way to work I listen to my web related podcasts to see if there are any new sites or techniques that I can share with my collegues, and on the way home I find out what's new with the DV Show.

All of the pod casts mention URL's on their own site for further information on the topics discussed during the pod cast, which in turn drives more repeat visitors to the site and increases the web site content.

How do I create a Pod Cast?

So you know why pod casting is a great tool to add to you site but how exactly do you go about recording them and getting them up on your site and iTunes?

1. Script your pod cast
   
   You might be the best speaker in the world, but you need to have some cues to keep you on topic and ensure you don't skip over and miss out important details.
   
   
2. Say it with a smile
   Remember the old talk that if you smile when answering the pohone the person on the other end notices? Well the same thing goes for pod casting.
   
   You're going to be reading from a script (remember, or did you already forget step 1) so you need to ensure that your voice remains animated. If the listener can imagine that someone is actually talking to them then they will take more interest in what your saying, follow the links you mention, and will most importantly be more likely to come back and download another pod cast.
   
   
3. Say it clearly
   
   I don't mean you have to alter the way you speak so you dound like Dr Doolittle, I'm saying that you need to have the correct equipment and the right environment when recording your pod cast.
   
   While you could use your on board microphone and record it in your bathroom while you still have Adium or MSN Messenger running, there will be back ground noise echos and an annoying little chime everytime someone comes online.
   
   Ideally you would want a studio for this, but that's just unrealistic.
   
   Record it in a quiet room where you're not likely to get interrupted, try andy and get a carpeted room as that will absorb some of the background noise and echos.
   
   Buy a directional microphone, Rode do a cheap good quality microphone, or if you're going to be doing a multi person cast get a multi directional microphone rather then passing the one around.
   
   You should also be recording the pod cast with the best possible software.
   
   Fortunately for mac users you can use Garage Band but for those recordin on PC dowlaod Audacity free of charge rather then use the basic recording software in the accessories menu.
   
   You should record and save the pod cast in the hiest quality format allowed.  I'm against edits of podcasts but if you want to do so you will loose some of the quality so start big.
   
   
4. Convert to a Pod Cast ready format
   
   Regardless of whether you recorded in Garage Band or Audacity it won't be ready for people to download just yet, or at least not optimised to download and listen.
   

In an earlier post I talked about settings for ffmpeg for flash video, and today I came across another helpful setting for ffmpeg.

Sometimes your video will run for 30 minutes, however you only want to upload it in 10 minute segments.

The following command will split a movie file

ffmpeg -i myfiletosplit.flv -ss 00:00:00 -t 00:10:00 mydestinationsplit_1.flv 

-i defines the input, it would usually look like -i location/of/my/movietosplit.flv

-ss is the beginning of the file in hh:mm:ss from the beginning of the video file

-t is the length of time you want to capture the clip in hh:mm:ss.  The first time I used this I made the mistake of thinking this was the time I wanted to record until, remember it is the duration of the clip you want to capture.

So if you had a 24 minute clip and wanted to capture it in 3 x 8 minute clips you would use the following

ffmpeg -i myfiletosplit.flv -ss 00:00:00 -t 00:08:00 mydestinationsplit_1_3.flv -ss 00:08:00 -t 00:08:00 mydestinationsplit_2_3.flv -ss 00:16:00 -t 00:08:00 mydestinationsplit__3_3.flv

As far as online tools go for videographers, The DV Show has got to be one of the best.

I started listening to their podcasts about a year ago and have been an avid follower ever since.

Each week Brian, the host, takes you through the latest products, has an interview with some of the leading peers in the field of videography and offers up some great downloads for the mac and the pc.

To cap it off the show often starts with a Q&A built from that weeks most interesting questions.

I joined up during my recent trip through Europe and have been taking advantage of the premium subscribers offers during the past few months, and although you MORE then get your money from paying $35.00 life time subscription fee if you don't want to there's still tons of free stuff there.

Enough plugging someone elses site though, I'm about a week away from finishing off the video tutorial on how to install ffmpeg which will then tie in nicely with the previous post on FFMpeg Settings for Flash Video.