How Many Peas are in a Podcast???
by Gary Woods

"Podcasting" has become one of the hottest trends on the Internet. Thousands of people are sharing everything from their views on life and politics to music they've written to anything you can reduce to an audio format. Podcasting became even more accessible with Apple's release of iTunes 4.9 software which directly supports podcasts. The software allows you to locate thousands of programs, listen to them, or copy them to an iPod for later listening. There's also a free program from Doppler (www.dopplerradio.net) that lets you transfer podcasts to Windows Media Player.

All you need to get going is a microphone, a sound card, some audio editing software and a place that will host your podcasts. Almost any microphone will work but if you'd really like to let the world hear those sonorous tones of yours consider a Shure SM-58 or ElectroVoice 635A for about $100. If your sound card isn't quite up to the task you might consider the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX for about $90. This card has both line-in and microphone inputs and a variety of outputs.

To edit your sounds Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) is a good, free program. Every time you hit record it creates a new track that you can edit and combine with other tracks.

Finally to get your masterwork to the masses check out bogger.com or audioblog.com both free Podcasting sites. So, what are you waiting for?? I just know I'll be hearing from you soon!

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910