Podcasting A to V

October 13, 2008 by Rob White
Filed under New Media Pro

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No, there is not a typo in the title, I meant to say A to V, not A to Z, because in this post I will be talking about taking your podcast from it’s humble beginnings to the next level, video! Now, before you go running off saying that this is too difficult or I simply wouldn’t understand, let me tell you, been there, done that!

Without getting into too much boring details, let’s start with getting started with podcasting, in it’s original format, pre-recorded.

In the beginning days of podcasting, you would take a recorder (you remember those don’t you?) and record your podcasts and then send them to your PC through your sound card input and save them on your hard drive, then take your saved recording (all your editing was done on the fly on the recorder) and then upload your recording to a podcast host somewhere, and from there, it would propagate across the few directories that were around in those days and people would listen to it, if they had an interest. Lots of work to do this, so podcasts, were infrequent and not real popular.

Then came some new technology in software for PC’s, that would allow you to record your podcast, direct to your computer using a microphone attached to your sound card input and would allow for basic editing right on the computer and would save the recording in a proper format for uploading to your podcast host. Because of this break-through, podcasting became a little more viable for people as they could afford to do this easier now. Some had to purchase microphones, while others already had the right stuff and could go for it now!

Along comes the iPod generation and MP3 Players, RSS, and you get the idea. With the availability of RSS feeds and so many portable players being sold and more and more each day, podcasting became a medium for many small businesses up to large corporations, to use to get market their wares. But what about the everyday Joe, where do they fit in this new equation? Well, some podcast hosts setup “free” accounts for hosting that was advertising based, allowing the normal person to post podcasts about whatever niche they wanted and granted them a small, but usable storage account for these podcasts. There was a learning curve with this, and many caught on, but just as many found it too difficult to do, so they just dropped off the scene as quickly as they had came in.

In 2005, a new company came on the scene offering EVERYONE the chance to do Live, Interactive Podcasting. This company, Talkshoe, gave even the little guy a way to sign up, for free, free hosting, free storage, and a way to talk about ANYTHING they wanted, for as long as they wanted (with 3 to 5 hours) and even record it, on the fly, using a simple phone interface! The phone interface meant that there was no equipment to buy, no microphones, no hookups to the PC, etc. just place a phone call and login. You could instantly be “on the air” and start you road counting down to your 15 minutes of fame. All of this for free!

A lot of people, from novice to experienced podcasters, jumped on this site and started broadcasting. Some lasted only a few shows (some less than that) because they didn’t have the passion they thought they had or simply suffered from burnout, early on. The ones that hung in there (and many still are) began building audiences of loyal listeners and started building their own communities in this social media network. Some that dropped out of podcasting, became loyal listeners of other shows and some even found their passion again and went back for another try to only succeed this time!

Like with any technology, there is always growth. In this next “growth spurt”, along comes live, video streaming. Now, in order to do this, you MUST have a web cam or other type of camera that can act as a webcam. You also need a microphone and a “reason” to plaster your face (literally) in front of potentially thousands or viewers. When you visit any of the video streaming sites, such as uStream.tv or Stickam, you will find a variety of celebrity streams, but you will also find the “run of the mill” streams that aren’t really filling a niche as much as they are just taking up some air time. These type of streams don’t do much for me, however, they seem to have lots of viewers, so there must be something that I am missing (or not).

After you have been podcasting for a while, whether old style by pre-recorded and posting or via live, interactive podcasting, there comes a time that you feel you could expand your horizons and take your podcast to “the next level”…live video.

In order to do this, you really need to stop and check your PC (or Mac) to insure that you have enough RAM memory and CPU to handle to extra workload. Also, you must have a decent broadband upload stream (500k and up) to insure that you don’t tank everything when trying to do this.

If you don’t have enough bandwidth, stop right there, and don’t pursue it any further until you get more bandwidth. Ask anyone that has done live video about this and they will tell you that this is very important. Take into account that your live audio will also take bandwidth, add on top of that the bandwidth requirements for video and if you have enough, go for it, otherwise you should really wait to go to the next level for now.

Now, if you already have a live podcast with loyal listeners, don’t just jump ship and go straight video (because of the bandwidth) and abandon your live audio podcasts. Remember, doing this, you will be starting over and you may not be mentally prepared for the shock that comes with not having anyone watching or listening to you, like you originally had! Here, I’m talking from experience. Having done this, I found that the live video streaming services aren’t always up to par with a live show that has a serious minded niche. Especially if that show goes more than 10 or 15 minutes. If this is you, don’t try this. Believe me, you will be disappointed, I know I was.

Well, that’s the gist of what I had to say. I am preparing a webinar on this subject and would like your feedback. Is this something that you would pay to learn the ropes from someone who has been there and you can learn from their mistakes? Or is this a subject that really doesn’t have a value for you, so you wouldn’t pay for it, but would like the information presented free of charge, even though you might not get the full value of it, if it was free? One last question, if you feel this is something you would pay for, say a three hour webinar, what would you pay to learn the ins and outs of going from the basics to more advanced levels of podcasting?

Leave me a comment letting me (and others) know what you think. I really want to know what you thing about this. Thanks in advance!