Podcasting Bible: Create and market successful podcasts from your desktop, for your company, or in the studio

599 Pages·2007·18.43 MB·English

by  Mitch Ratcliffe, Steve Mack

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Podcasting Bible
Steve Mack and Mitch Ratcliffe
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01_043523 ffirs.qxp 1/4/07 6:40 PM Page ii
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01_043523 ffirs.qxp 1/4/07 6:40 PM Page i
Podcasting Bible
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Podcasting Bible
Steve Mack and Mitch Ratcliffe
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Podcasting Bible
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-04352-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Authors
Steve Mackhas spent more than a decade at the forefront of the digital media industry. He is a
principal at LUX Media (www.luxmedia.com), a firm specializing in interactive media design,
live event and a/v production, encoding, hardware and software implementation, and training.
Through its 501 division, LUX also offers hosting and consulting services targeted at progressive
non-profit organizations.
Previously at RealNetworks for five years (http://www.real.com) as executive producer and
media lab manager, Steve worked with high-profile customers and partners to create cutting-edge
programming and presentations. Steve has produced some of the largest and most prestigious
Internet broadcasts, including U2 live from Notre Dame (Yahoo Internet Magazine’s “Top of the Net
for 2001”), the ACLU 2004 Members Conference, President Clinton’s inaugural address, and the
first public live Internet broadcast of a Seattle Mariners game in 1995.
He has authored a number of books, including Streaming Media Bible (Wiley, 2002) and Hands on
Guide to Webcasting (Focal Press, 2005). He also writes for numerous publications.
Before his current career in interactive media, Steve was a professional musician who traveled the
world and released five albums’ worth of material with critically acclaimed Irish rock group That
Petrol Emotion. During this time he built, owned, and operated Bang Bang Studios in London, a
commercial 24-track recording studio where he produced and engineered hundreds of releases. He
is still active in the music industry as a producer/engineer and performer.
Mitch Ratcliffeis co-founder of several startups and an accomplished Internet executive. His most
recent company, BuzzLogic, where he invented a technology for analyzing influence and value in
social networks, recently launched its first product. His consulting business, Internet/Media
Strategies Inc., has worked with America Online, EarthWeb, Audible, Time Warner, ZD Net,
Comdex, and SoftBank, among others.
Mitch led the development of the ON24 Financial iNetwork, the first streaming news organization,
from 1999 to 2001. He also developed and managed the ZDY2K Web site, a source of Year 2000
information and commentary on the ZD Net supersite. His Audible program, Adventures In
Technology, was one of the first downloadable spoken word series about the evolution of media in
the Internet era.
Mitch has served in numerous editorial positions with the likes of Digital Media and MacWEEK.
He is the co-author of three books published by Random House, and his work has appeared in
Forbes, Fortune, PCWEEK, PCWorld, In-Formation, National Review,and Feed,among others. He
is a widely quoted commentator on digital technology and the networked economy.
He represents SoftBank on the board of Electric Classifieds and Match.com. He is a member of the
board of advisors for several early-stage companies, including commercial wiki developer
Socialtext and music training developer iVideoTunes.
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Steve Mack: For Erin, Shilo, and Maggie. Did it take as long
this time? Yes, it did.
Mitch Ratcliffe: For Geneva Ratcliffe, who has grown up in
cyberspace, her brother Taylor, maker of stories and other
grand inventions, and their mother Kiera, my partner in all
things fair, foul, and daring.
Credits
Acquisitions Editor Project Coordinator
Kim Spilker Kristie Rees
Project Editor Graphics and Production Specialists
Martin V. Minner Carrie A. Foster
DennyHager
Technical Editor Stephanie D. Jumper
Travis Petershagen Alicia B.South
Copy Editor Quality Control Technician
Gwenette Gaddis Goshert John Greenough
Editorial Manager Proofreading
Robyn Siesky Sossity R. Smith
Business Manager Indexing
Amy Knies Infodex Indexing Services Inc.
Vice President and Executive Group Cover Design
Publisher Michael Trent
Richard Swadley
Cover Illustration
Vice President and Publisher Joyce Haughey
Barry Pruett
Wiley Bicentennial Logo
Richard J. Pacifico
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P
odcasting is a relatively new field, and it’s still undergoing many changes. What started off as
a cool way to combine a bunch of existing technologies into a nifty way to distribute audio
files has turned into a worldwide craze that now encompasses video, images, and other data
types, and is used in education, government, and major corporations. It’s safe to assume that the
next few years are going to see even more changes in the field.
Currently, there are more podcasting business startups than you can reliably count, with more
appearing each day. Each one has its own particular twist on how it is going to serve the podcast-
ing community. Not all of them will be successful; this is just the business reality in any growing
field.
The same goes for podcasters. Each day brings tens if not hundreds of new podcasts into existence.
While we’re incredibly excited about the level playing field that podcasting brings, we’re old
enough to know that this excitement level can’t last, and that many folks are going to realize that
maintaining and updating a podcast requires time, effort, and most of all, passion.
We sincerely hope that if you’re passionate about something and want to share your passions with
the world, this book helps you do so. We’ve tried to keep the information in this book as evergreen
as possible. We try not to recommend any particular vendors, because their pricing models and
service records may have changed by the time you read this. We do, however, try to go into detail
about the business of podcasting, the basics of digital media production, and the options available
to you as a podcaster. This information is much less likely to go out of date.
After reading this book, you should know how to calculate the investment in time and money that
building a podcasting business requires. You should know how to produce a good sounding audio
podcast, and a good-looking video podcast. To this end, we’ve included many worksheets and
step-by-step examples for you to follow.
If you want to find out more or learn more about a particular aspect of podcasting, plenty of refer-
ence books on the market will serve you well. This book, however, should give you a firm theoreti-
cal foundation for everything you need to know about podcasting.
Because the world of podcasting is changing and growing so rapidly, we can’t hope to be com-
pletely up to date. However, the process of creating a podcast and building a business remain the
same, and the basic rule still applies: Create a good-quality program, and your audience will find
you. We can’t tell you what to make your program about, but we hope we can help you produce it
to a high standard and grow it into a viable business.
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