What more is needed to podcast?

[Websquad]

On this page, http://centenarylex.com/worship-music/sermons/, I offer folks the opportunity to download sermons as a batch MP3 file or for streaming as a m3u file that points to the MP3 file. It seems to work (i.e., there have been a bunch of downloads, and no complaints that users are not getting what they expected).

My question: What more is needed for podcasting? This old fogie doesn't understand "podcasting", although I can download these to my SanDisk c150 MP3/WMA player (indeed, is that podcasting?).

bob
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[flutem3]

Bob wrote:

"My question: What more is needed for podcasting? This old fogie doesn't understand "podcasting", although I can download these to my SanDisk c150 MP3/WMA player (indeed, is that podcasting?)."

Hi, Bob,

This "old fogey" doesn't understand either...not at all. I haven't even seen what is used for podcasting. I know how to cast for fish, but I don't know how to cast for pods. :D

I want to start at a beginning point. What kind of sound systems does a church need in order to do whatever needs to be done? I hope that is specific enough. I really do not understand how to do this at all. I am not certain that we would want to, but in any event we are unable to podcast because I don't know how. I have read all kinds of stuff, but I still don't have a clue.

Can someone tell me from the beginning, assuming that I know nothing which I don't, what needs to be done to podcast.

I have another question? What if people don't have something with which to listen to a podcast with? Then there is no sense in doing it, is there? I guess part of the answer to this question depends on whether anyone "out there" will listen.

What is the difference between podcasting and listing to a sermon on an MP3 player which I don't know how to do either? Is the podcast portable, and is that the difference?

Bob, I don't think you are an "old fogey," and I don't think I am one either...however, I certainly am older than I was 65 years ago. :D

Carol

[Websquad]

Well, we have a number of 30-somethings in the church, and they are all web-enabled and fully wired (and unwired). That's the market. It is a medium size church (about 2600 on rolls, and 1300 there each Sunday), so there is a bunch in that demographic.

In any event, after my initial inquiry to this thread, I took some time with Google, did a search on "create podcast rss", and found a tutorial on developing a RSS file at

http://radio.about.com/od/podcastin1/a/aa030805a.htm

I then used a link in that tutorial to validate the .rss file and fix a couple of date errors, and then loaded it onto my server.

I next created a test page that presents the PodCast along with the other audio download options we have (batch mp3 file transfer, and streaming audio). For now, this is at:

http://centenarylex.com/worship-music/sermons/index2.shtml

Note: the "index2.shtml" file will change to "index.shtml" when we get done with testing. This page has the URL for the .rss feed ... so then I needed a .rss reader. I downloaded the "Juice" receiver from

http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/

It wasn't difficult to set up, and when I tested a .rss feed, it seemed to download OK. I was able to listen to the sermon in Windows Media Player (version 10), and downloading it to my .mp3 device should be a snap.

I'll have at least one other person on our web team check it out, and them add the other sermons to the .rss file.

bob
<><

[flutem3]

Hey, Bob,

Thank you for the information. I appreciate it. Your church sounds like a big church to me. Our membership is about 500 with 250-300 each Sunday. And the majority of our membership is older. About half have computers and know how to send email. A smaller number than that are as proficient as I am which isn't saying very much at all...especially when you consider that I didn't think of looking up podcasting on Google myself. :confused:

Good grief. You would think I have been using the computer long enough to think of that.!! It sounds of if podcasting would work in your church. I think I will learn about it and see what happens in ours.

We just got around to posting the sermons. I don't know if others like that, but I really enjoy them. Chris is a good speaker, and in reading the sermons I can pick up all the points I missed when I was listening.

I thought you said you didn't know about this podcasting stuff. It sounds to me that you do.

Thanks again!!

Carol

[David Gillaspey]

What more is needed for podcasting? This old fogie doesn't understand "podcasting"Hi Bob,

Looks like you're well on your way already (based on subsequent posts) to creating podcasts. But I'll answer your question by stating that podcasting is 1) automating the process of letting the world know what audio content is available on a website, especially, what new content is available; and 2) automating the process of users locating and downloading (and even immediately playing) audio content from a website, especially, new content.

Just having downloadable audio files on a website doesn't mean podcasting is happening. And, a user or visitor to a website having an .mp3 player doesn't mean podcasting has occurred. Podcasting is connecting the two to reduce or eliminate the human interaction and effort needed to locate, download, and play audio files that matches one's interests. The key to that is the RSS files about which you wrote.

See more here:

http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2568&postcount=2

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[David Gillaspey]

What kind of sound systems does a church need in order to do whatever needs to be done? I hope that is specific enough.Hi Carol,

Does your church make available audio tapes of sermons? If so, then the church is well on its way to being able to make .mp3 sermon files available for download, though that in itself does not constitute podcasting.

What if people don't have something with which to listen to a podcast with?They will. Trust me. Hardware (you can carry it around) .mp3 players such as Apple Computer's iPod are everywhere. And there are software versions of .mp3 players. Even car tape decks play .mp3s these days.

What is the difference between podcasting and listing to a sermon on an MP3 playerSee my previous response to Bob. Podcasting is about automating an otherwise manual process.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[Websquad]

I think the thing that confused me for a long time (and I think I'm correct in this assumption ... please let me know if I'm now), is that I thought that the server component of the PodCast equation actually pushed the content to the desktop or device. Apparently, the desktop or device actually pulls the content from the server ... the desktop/device schedules and initiates the date transfer.

David, please confirm that this is the correct assumption ....

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[Faithhb_lutheran]

Bob,

that's mostly what happens. The basics of delivering a podcast are simple. Once you have set it up, three things need to happen.
1.) a person using a client service or device needs to subscribe to your podcast. This is basically your side tellin the server "hey send me the new episode when you get it"
2.) Then when a new podcast gets uploaded to the server the server program sends out a bulletin to all who have subscribed. "Hey the new episode is at this location"
3.) then if your program has automatic downloads (most do) your device or service will download the file to you, if not then it will alert you to the download and ask for your permission.

[Websquad]

You said, "2.) Then when a new podcast gets uploaded to the server the server program sends out a bulletin to all who have subscribed. "Hey the new episode is at this location"'

How does the server send out a bulletin to all who have subscribed? When I installed my RSS file (which I updated today), there is no connection to a database or even flat file that has the Email address of subscribers; indeed, I have no idea who (if anyone) has subscribed. My main MP3 page (with the batch, streaming, and PodCast options) is here:

http://centenarylex.com/worship-music/sermons/index2.shtml

Can you give me some direction/clarification?

[Faithhb_lutheran]

I misspoke. Ignore part two,

What your server does is put out a sign saying new stuff here, and then the client side while searching through all of it's subscriptions will see that and download the new file.

Sorry

[Websquad]

I misspoke. Ignore part two. What your server does is put out a sign saying new stuff here, and then the client side while searching through all of it's subscriptions will see that and download the new file.

Sorry
Is that the line in the .rss file that is esentially the following:

<lastBuildDate>Tue, 20 Jul 2006 13:00:00 -0500</lastBuildDate>

This is in the "header" portion of the XML before you get to the "item's"...

???

[JackWolfgang]

They will. Trust me. Hardware (you can carry it around) .mp3 players such as Apple Computer's iPod are everywhere. And there are software versions of .mp3 players. Even car tape decks play .mp3s these days.

I read somewhere that about three-quarters of podcasts are actually listened to on PCs, but I don't remember where (I think it was one of Andrew Careaga's blogs).

[Faithhb_lutheran]

Bob,

Sounds like it is to me but I am no expert on any of the code for this stuff.

Jack,

That sounds reasonable. When apple took a page out of the microsoft playbook and packaged quicktime with itunes it sent the number of potential users up quite a bit and with the popularity of playlist sharing itunes is fast outgrowing ipods.

[stevelavey]

We were in the same boat as you in trying to get our messages out to people both on our website and through Apple I-Tunes for podcasting.



Over the last six months, our church, Park Community Church (http://www.parkcommunitychurch.org/) in Chicago has made a huge commitment to the grow our internet presence and top on our priorities is to provide our messages in many formats. We have upgraded our technology, our team, and our know-how, and have begun podcasting our Sunday messages.



When I went to on the web, I thought it would be a straightforward process to podcast. We already had saved our messages on a CD in mp3 format, so I thought all I needed to do is Google (http://google.com/) the web, find a podcasting"how-to" site, and then let it rip. I didn’t find any great sites that would help me step by step to get our messages to show up in I-Tunes.



Assuming you can get your Sunday messages into mp3 format, here is my journey to get actual podcasting (as opposed to downloads from our website which we already had) up and running.


1. Open up a Blogger (http://blogger.com/) or Wordpress (http://wordpress.com/) account (they are free and easy to operate). For this example, I will use Blogger, which is where Park’s messages are linked at our blogger website (http://www.park-community-church.blogspot.com/). In blogger setup, click that you want to display a links box under the message title.


2. Each week, insert a message title and insert the URL link to the message mp3 located on your website into your blogger entry. Also add the name of the speaker in the main blogging area.


3. Set up a Feedburner (http://feedburner.com/) account. Feedburner serves as the delivery mechanism to get your messagest to I-Tunes for I-Tunes podcasting.



4. On Feedburner, add your link to your blogger account, and fill in the I-Tunes information.


5. On I-Tunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/), click on podcast, then click on SUBMIT YOUR PODCAST


6. Insert your Feedburner feed URL, then wait a week and you should be on I-Tunes.


Hope this helps. Please email me with any questions…

Steve Lavey
Executive Pastor
Park Community Church
blog: http://20millionminutes.com

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for posting step-by-step instructions for podcasting.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
Forum administrator

[BillStrickland]

Hi Guys,

If you already have the MP3 files done, then go over to www.CyberEars.com (http://www.CyberEars.com) and they take care of the rest. You don't need to understand all the technical mumbo jumbo stuff and they do all that RSS stuff for you. And they have a free trial account there so you can try it out.

We did, and we love it. Its at: www.CyberEars.com (http://www.CyberEars.com)

Oh, and they have all the Promotion stuff on their site as well, so you don't have to run the risk of messing up the registration of your Podcast with all the registries (like iTunes, etc.). My friend tried to do it all himself, and he created the links on iTunes and then messed it up. Then he found he couldn't remove them and was unable to release his podcast for 3 months before they finally fixed it all up. I'd not run the risk on this, and get CyberEars.com to do it for you. They are really inexpensive (4.95 a month) and its worth it IMHO.

Bill

[Websquad]

When I set up my podcasting service last May (2006), I thought that it would be best to have one RSS file for each calendar year. There are now 35 "items" in that file, and the index page to the MP3 batch/streaming downloads also has 35 entries. My intent was to start a new RSS file for the Jan 7th (today) sermon ...

QUESTION: Is that adding unnecessary complexity, or is there a potential performance hit when the RSS file has several hundred entries?

This may be mumbo jumbo to some, but I'd like your opinions ... thanks !!

[flutem3]

Hi, Bob,

It is not mumbo-jumbo, but I do not know the answer. However, it is a fascinating question so I am looking forward to finding out the answer as well. Be patient. Almost everyone is celebrating the holidays!! There aren't many of us around right now. David, forum administrator, may be though.

Happy New Year to One and All!
God bless you and your web ministries.

Carol

[JackWolfgang]

When I set up my podcasting service last May (2006), I thought that it would be best to have one RSS file for each calendar year. There are now 35 "items" in that file, and the index page to the MP3 batch/streaming downloads also has 35 entries. My intent was to start a new RSS file for the Jan 7th (today) sermon ...

QUESTION: Is that adding unnecessary complexity, or is there a potential performance hit when the RSS file has several hundred entries?

This may be mumbo jumbo to some, but I'd like your opinions ... thanks !!

Bob--

The reason I wouldn't do that is because then people will have to re-subscribe to your podcast.

[Faithhb_lutheran]

Bob,

Like Jack said everybody would have to resubscribe to your feed, if you have a space problem I would archive the files and then delete them all and clear them from the index file and start clean for the new year.

[pmburrow]

Bob,


I’ve been reading up on podcasting and saw your posts. I downloaded Juice, and played around with it using your site. I have a question. I used some old mp3 files that are still on our server and made a rss.xml file for a couple of them. I could get Juice to download either one or the other files depending on which rss.xml file I entered. My question for you, is how do I get Juice to list all the files, the way it seems to be working for you?

Thanks

Phillip

[pmburrow]

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

[pmburrow]

Bob,
Never mind I figured it out. There is only one rss.xml file with multiple items. One for each recording.
Thanks anyway,
Phillip