The Audacity to Podcast - A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity

I share a bunch of resources and inspirations for which I'm thankful. This is almost a "how I podcast" episode, but not quite.

Regardless of whether you use WordPress or a different blogging platform or content-management system, how you title your blog posts and, by extension, your podcast episodes greatly affects your searchability and even your usability. These steps will assume that you are using WordPress and heavily rely on permalinks (called "friendly URLs" and similar in other systems). Whether I say "blog post" or "podcast title," I am referring to essentially the same thing. Hire me to design stuff for you! Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Additional sponsor: visit gotomeeting.com, click the Try It Free button and use promo code "Podcast." 1. Full episode titles Imagine you downloaded a podcast episode called "Episode 5." Does that tell you anything about the general or specific theme of the episode or the topics covered within it? No! It only tells you that it is an episode and what number it is. Instead, include a full title. Titles can be relevant, like "Shownotes URLs for Search-Engine Optimization" for this episode, or they can be fun and spark curiosity, like those of the Ramen Noodle™ and other light-hearted podcasts. If yours is a more formal podcast covering specific topics, consider a title that reflects this. The title is the first thing people will see about that episode and will influence how they prioritize their listening to your episode. Thus, "Important Announcement" (as I'll reuse later) also tells your listeners nothing about the episode. Why not include the announcement in the title? 2. Front-load the titles I have seen podcasts follow the format, "My Totally Awesome Podcast, SPECIAL EPISODE 5: Important Announcement." Although it may be okay to speak this format within your podcast, it is not good in writing for a couple reasons. Displays poorly and hinders usability Nearly all portable digital audio players don't have enough screen space to display a full episode title, so they probably scroll it. When I have episodes titled as above, then my device will probably dim the screen before it gets to telling me even the episode number, let alone the episode's title. The same goes for computer displays, such as the columns in iTunes, where it may be cut off. Hurts searchability Search engines read content very much the same way that newspapers are written: headline first, first paragraph, subsequent headings. Having an episode title as above means that Google and other search engines will see "My Totally Awesome Podcast" more prevalent than "Important Announcement." Instead, move the title to the front Front-loading titles means moving the important stuff to the front. Like newspaper articles in which the first paragraph is a summary of the article to follow. Treat your titles and blog posts like that. I get emails from mystery shopping places that use a format similar to the above episode title for their subject lines. The problem is I have to always open the email (or just delete it) before I even know what kind of shop is available to perform. You could list your episode title as, "Important Announcement (My Totally Awesome Podcast, Episode 5)," which is nicely front-loaded (of course, make the title more relevant), but that presents another problem, which we will solve next. 3. Abbreviations and episode numbers Sometimes abbreviations are good, many times they are not. However, I think they would be preferred in podcast titles when you need to communicate which podcast it is and the episode number. Instead of "My Totally Awesome Podcast, Episode 5," try "MTAP005: …." This provides chronological sorting for devices that may not properly sort your episodes (my iPod frequently does that) and it tells your listeners which show and episode number it is without taking up a lot of space to do so. 4. Include important, relevant keywords

Ambrosia Software released the much-needed Soundboard 2.0 and I share a brief review, I'm developing a WordPress theme designed specifically for podcasters, I answer Alan Bunt's question about using a compressor/limiter/gate on a Behringer 1204 mixer, ...

Your domain is one of the most-important parts of your branding, and it’s how people will get to your website from anything other than a hyperlink. I share six tips for creating your domain.

Google updated Feedburner with mostly real-time stats, Apple released GarageBand '11, easily get your podcast into Facebook with RSS Graffiti, TechPodcasts Network, Podcast Awards, and a fellow podcaster launches Podcast Starter. Audacity tip: finding answers in the Audacity Wiki.

Subscribe to enough podcasts and you'll see lengths from thirty seconds to two hours and frequencies from multiple times a day to once a month. I share some tips on determining the right balance for your podcast. Audacity tip: how to switch playback and recording devices within Audacity. Hire me to design stuff for you! Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Feedback I have a lot of emails and voicemails to go through; I promise to respond to them all, but it's taking a little while to sort them out. How frequently should you podcast? Determining how often your podcast (your frequency) is very dependent upon your content. If you talk about a weekly TV show, then it's probably obvious that you should have a weekly podcast. But have you also considered a semiweekly (two a week) episode? Perhaps an initial-reactions episode immediately after the TV show airs, and then a later, more thought-out episode with feedback. Cliff Ravenscraft's Weekly Lost Podcast followed this format. Or maybe you want to be among the first to talk about the latest tech news. Then maybe you should be daily. The late GeekBrief followed this format and did very well. Wall Street Journal Tech News Briefing actually podcasts twice a day, because their information depends on what happens overnight before the business day, as well as what happens within the business day. Some podcasts are biweekly, while others are even monthly. Subscribe to any monthly podcast, such as Children's Ministry Monthly, and you'll see that episodes are not released on a consistent schedule. First determine how timely your content must be, and then set a schedule and try to stick with it. A weekly format seems the most popular and easiest to hold with consistency. Once you've picked your frequency, then your can choose your optimal episode length. How long should each podcast episode be? The length of each episode greatly depends on your frequency. Unless you have an extremely loyal following, releasing one-hour episodes every day (under the same podcast, that is) seems overkill. If a subscribe goes on a one-week vacation, they'll return to five hours of that show's content, which can be very hard for catching up. But on the opposite side, a monthly podcast should not necessarily be a two- or four-hour-long episode. It's all right if you record that much content, but break it up into smaller episodes to make it easier on your listeners. The more frequently you update your site, the more Google will love you and the easier it can be to build a faithful audience. Effective splitting Are You Just Watching?™, one of our other podcasts on the Noodle.mx Network, is recorded approximately monthly, but each main episode is split into two parts. We do this while recording by watching our timer and verbally closing the current topic and ending the episode. This is very smooth and friendly on the ears. But you can still look for ways to break up very long episodes by interjecting a split and releasing the episodes separately. Recommendations for episode length The following are my personal opinion, based on what I have heard from many other listeners as well as what seems to work among the most popular podcasts. Podcast frequency Episode length Semidaily 1–5 minutes Daily 1–15 minutes (sometimes 30) Weekly 15–60 minutes (with exceptions) Biweekly 60 minutes Monthly 60–90 minutes Annually This isn't podcasting! As you can see, I highly recommend podcasting no longer than one hour (60 minutes). The sweet spot seems to be 30–45 minutes. It's short enough that many can probably listen during their commute (either one-way or round-trip). However long you decide to make your episodes, have a good reason! Don't let yourself ramble on for two hours in one episode if you regularly release half-hour episodes.

During my honeymoon, I had several episodes of the Ramen Noodle™ and The Audacity to Podcast™ automatically post. How can you prerecord and schedule your episodes to magically post while you are away? I share some tips for workflow, Audacity, and WordPress. This week's Audacity tip is the power of the pause button. Hire me to design stuff for you! Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Feedback Brian from Small Biz Kaizen shares some constructive critical feedback and raises points that I neglected to mention when I spoke on the need for verbal organization in episode 15. Scott shares a success from advice I gave in episode 12 about getting an analog-to-digital converter for reducing digital interference noise. Scott bought a Syba SD-CM-UAUD USB Stereo Audio Adapter for $10 shipped (now $14 + shipping) and it worked perfectly. Tips for prerecording podcast episodes Be organized and plan ahead. Consider bringing guests onto the show to provide content. When you're in "the zone" could be the best time to prerecord. Name your episodes and write your shownotes immediately after recording. Try to have your shownotes written ahead of time. Keep it simple! The less editing you perform, the quicker you can prerecord your episodes. Consider even allowing a few more "glitches" than you might normally allow. Don't feel like you have to release episodes while you're gone, unless you have contractual obligations. Sometimes a break is nice, and it ensures your listeners won't fall behind (especially around holidays). In fact, iTunes will pause (not unsubscribe) your listeners' subscriptions if they fall behind. Schedule your post in WordPress to automatically post while you're away. Audacity tip: pause while recording Don't forget the power of the pause button! Use it wisely, and you may not need any postproduction! The keyboard shortcut on Windows and OS X is P (for pause). Do you have questions or feedback? Please ask your questions or share your thoughts here in the comments, email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com, or call our listener voicemail line at (903) 231-2221. Also follow me on Twitter and please consider leaving a five-star review for the show in iTunes. You can contact me through the same methods if you're interested in my design, production, or consultation services. If you enjoy The Audacity to Podcast™, please subscribe to our other podcasts on the Noodle.mx Network: Are You Just Watching?™ and the Ramen Noodle™.

I'm back from my wedding and honeymoon, but still settling in with my wife. This is another prerecorded episode that started with a question about podcasting without passion. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. Question from Minnie I am getting involved into blogging, video blogging and soon podcasting, but I wonder what I can talk about passionately and not lose motivation. How do you decide on what to podcast about. The POD of Podcasting If you don't remember POD (passion, organization, dialog), then go back and listen to episode 1, "You Need POD to Podcast." Podcasting without passion? Podcasting is all about passion. Unless you're getting paid big bucks, podcasting without passion is doomed to fail. Listeners will like you for your passion, whatever it is. Think about the best salesmen—they're so passionate about their products that it makes you interested, too. That's because enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm. Take the P out of the POD of podcasting, and you'll get just OD—odd to podcast without passion, isn't it? Podcasting without organization? You can have all the passion and dialog in the world, but lacking organization in your thoughts, flow, and even your website can prevent you from growing or even keeping your audience. This doesn't mean edit out all of your mistakes—sometimes a podcast is a whole lot more personal if you leave in the spot where your cat jumped on your computer and it set off all of your sound effects! Spontaneity is wonderful, but you can never been good preparation and organized thoughts. Don't always "wing it." Also try to overcome your verbal crutches to make it easier for people to listen to you. If you podcast without organization, you may be very hard for listening. Podcasting without dialog? People love to talk, especially about themselves. If listeners send you feedback appropriate to share, then share it! Also don't forget direct, personal communication. This whole episode is in answer to Minnie's excellent question. Thus, I am dialoging with one of my listeners. Your show doesn't have to be driven by dialog with your listeners or depending on a cohost, but if you take the D (dialog) out of the POD, then your listeners may just get PO'd. Audacity tip: show clipping Clipping (or peaking) is when your audio is too loud and overloads the system. This causes audio distortion. Fixing this can be tricky, but it's first important for you to see where your audio is clipping. To reveal your audio clipping in Audacity, go to the View menu and click Show Clipping. When audio exceeds the limit and gets clipped, it will now be marked with red. Do you have questions or feedback? Please ask your questions or share your thoughts here in the comments, email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com, or call our listener voicemail line at (903) 231-2221. Also follow me on Twitter and please consider leaving a five-star review for the show in iTunes. You can contact me through the same methods if you're interested in my design, production, or consultation services. If you enjoy The Audacity to Podcast™, please subscribe to our other podcasts on the Noodle.mx Network: Are You Just Watching?™ and the Ramen Noodle™.

While I'm on my honeymoon, I have a two-part conversation with Fred Casteneda, a podcasting machine! We talk about his passion, organization, and dialog in his podcasting empire. This is part 2 of our previous conversation. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. About Fred Castaneda Fred Castaneda is an Entrepreneur in the area of Podcasting, New Media, Social Media, as well as Personal Productivity and Time Management. He is currently the President of Matrix Solutions Corporation and has been a marketing consultant for the Small Business community. After retiring from IBM, with over 31 years of experience in Marketing, Sales, Training, Podcasting, Video, New Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, he has also led several start-up firms since 1981. Fred has several podcast series, including The Struggling Entrepreneur, as well as a Personal Productivity Course called Gain Control of Your Day. He also has also done audio narration of several published books at www.PremiumCast.com. Fred is currently the Managing Director for the program Finance-For-Startups at www.finance4startups.com. He is also a senior partner for the Joint Venture called Entrepreneur-Tools-Online. Fred has been a speaker at the 2009 Social Media Telesummit, as well as the 2009 and 2010 ProductCamp user-generated conferences (aka “unconferences”), as well as various PodCamps and e-lance-Camps since 2006 in Arizona, San Antonio, California and other venues. He is a currently a PhD. Candidate in International Business, and he received both his M.B.A and B.A. degrees at Loyola University of Los Angeles. In the past 25 years, Fred has taught and spoken at various universities and colleges in subjects ranging from Foreign Currency Devaluations of International Business to high-tech directions in Personal Computing. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Fred served several tours as an Airborne Infantry paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. He was later an educator and instructor for the Airborne’s Recondo School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, after a combat tour of duty in Vietnam. In addition to business-, productivity- and Entrepreneur-focused podcasts, Fred also publishes free podcasts to support the community of veterans’ organizations, as well as disadvantaged combat Veterans (such as http://www.cibaustin.org and http://www.82ndabndivalamo.org). In addition to his military, technical and sales careers, Fred also taught Dance at Loyola University and was the director of the performing Grupo Folklorico there. His free educational podcast of Arriba! Folklorico music and dance of Mexico covers the music and dance of the native and mestizo themes with a mixture of culture and entertainment. Fred's podcasts Struggling Entrepreneur Gain Control of your Day (companion podcast) Gain control of your day PREMIUM podcast (6-month course seminar) Arriba! Folklorico Music and Dance of Mexico Austin Podcasters Meetup podcast Entrepreneur iPad users meetup podcast Community of Five podcast and main blog Entrepreneur Tools Online and main blog Jungle Warriors (premium content like an audiobook from the published work by Bobby Briscoe) Casablanca to VE-day: A paratroopers' memoirs (premium content like an audiobook from the published work by Darrell G. Harris) Finance for Startups free companion podcast Finance for Startups premium podcast (7-week course seminar) 82nd Airborne Division Association podcast Combat infantrymen's Association podcast No live shows for a while I got married!

While I'm on my honeymoon, I have a two-part conversation with Fred Casteneda, a podcasting machine! We talk about his passion, organization, and dialog in his podcasting empire. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. About Fred Castaneda Fred Castaneda is an Entrepreneur in the area of Podcasting, New Media, Social Media, as well as Personal Productivity and Time Management. He is currently the President of Matrix Solutions Corporation and has been a marketing consultant for the Small Business community. After retiring from IBM, with over 31 years of experience in Marketing, Sales, Training, Podcasting, Video, New Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, he has also led several start-up firms since 1981. Fred has several podcast series, including The Struggling Entrepreneur, as well as a Personal Productivity Course called Gain Control of Your Day. He also has also done audio narration of several published books at www.PremiumCast.com. Fred is currently the Managing Director for the program Finance-For-Startups at www.finance4startups.com. He is also a senior partner for the Joint Venture called Entrepreneur-Tools-Online. Fred has been a speaker at the 2009 Social Media Telesummit, as well as the 2009 and 2010 ProductCamp user-generated conferences (aka “unconferences”), as well as various PodCamps and e-lance-Camps since 2006 in Arizona, San Antonio, California and other venues. He is a currently a PhD. Candidate in International Business, and he received both his M.B.A and B.A. degrees at Loyola University of Los Angeles. In the past 25 years, Fred has taught and spoken at various universities and colleges in subjects ranging from Foreign Currency Devaluations of International Business to high-tech directions in Personal Computing. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Fred served several tours as an Airborne Infantry paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. He was later an educator and instructor for the Airborne’s Recondo School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, after a combat tour of duty in Vietnam. In addition to business-, productivity- and Entrepreneur-focused podcasts, Fred also publishes free podcasts to support the community of veterans’ organizations, as well as disadvantaged combat Veterans (such as http://www.cibaustin.org and http://www.82ndabndivalamo.org). In addition to his military, technical and sales careers, Fred also taught Dance at Loyola University and was the director of the performing Grupo Folklorico there. His free educational podcast of Arriba! Folklorico music and dance of Mexico covers the music and dance of the native and mestizo themes with a mixture of culture and entertainment. Fred's podcasts Struggling Entrepreneur Gain Control of your Day (companion podcast) Gain control of your day PREMIUM podcast (6-month course seminar) Arriba! Folklorico Music and Dance of Mexico Austin Podcasters Meetup podcast Entrepreneur iPad users meetup podcast Community of Five podcast and main blog Entrepreneur Tools Online and main blog Jungle Warriors (premium content like an audiobook from the published work by Bobby Briscoe) Casablanca to VE-day: A paratroopers' memoirs (premium content like an audiobook from the published work by Darrell G. Harris) Finance for Startups free companion podcast Finance for Startups premium podcast (7-week course seminar) 82nd Airborne Division Association podcast Combat infantrymen's Association podcast No live shows for a while I got married! Although I will have prerecorded episodes still released on a schedule,

Noise is probably the most-common problem in amateur podcasts. Professional podcasts sound great not just because of the equipment, but also because of techniques. Learn some ways to reduce noise before and after you record. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. Reduce noise before you record Turn off noise-makers Fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, computers, and more can all cause background noise in your recording; try to turn them off if you can. I turn off my air conditioner whenever I start recording because I have a loud vent right above my studio equipment. Consider a different room If you can't turn off noise-makers, such as an air conditioner or refrigerator, consider switching rooms. Pay attention to the carpet, walls, and furniture in the room. The less "flat" you can make the room, the less the sound will reverbrate. Reduce computer fan noise Turn your microphone away from the computer and place as far away as possible. If you use a notebook computer, try to minimize your running software to prevent the fans from activating. Switch to a dynamic microphone Condensor microphones can capture a beautiful range of audio, but they're more sensitive to noise from the room (great for ambiance recording). Dynamic microphones are traditionally not as good with the audio range (such as the low pitches), but are more focused in what they capture and aren't as sensitive to room noise. There are cheap dynamic microphones, but they won't have the wide dynamic range of audio that they can capture. There is also my prized Heil PR40 for $325, and it sounds beautiful. Reduce the gain and get closer to the mic The microphone won't eat you! Get closer to it! You may think this will distort your audio and you're right, but that's why you reduce the gain, which is the mic's sensitivity. The more sensitive the mic, the more noise it will capture. Imagine it like a bubble around your mic. Gain makes the bubble bigger, which captures more sound. Make the "bubble" smaller and get inside it! Get a compressor/limiter/gate (CLG)? Not really. I shared in-depth settings for Chris's Dynamic Compressor for Audacity, and also just discussed software and hardware compressors. CLGs are only effective at not allowing any audio in the spaces between your talking. It won't remove noise while you record. Plug everything into one power outlet When you get electronic interference with your hardware (as I still have in some of your recordings), keep all your hardware plugged into the same outlet via surge protector. Also ensure your hardware is not in close proximity with other pieces (like audio cables sitting on power adapters—I made this mistake recently). Use a USB adapter If you record directly into your computer, converting that analog audio signal to digital before in reaches your computer has proven an effective method for reducing computer interference noise. Get either an adapter with 3.5 MM jacks or a Behringer U Control UCA202 USB Audio Interface for RCA jacks. This works great for desktops and notebooks. Removing noise after you have recorded Do everything you can to reduce the noise before you record. It's possible to easily reduce it so much, that you won't need to removal the noise afterward. There are probably some of these steps you can implement to get better recordings. If you still need to edit things after you recorded, here's how to remove noise with Audacity. Select the "silent" section of your audio, where it's just noise. Go to the Effects menu and click Noise Removal. Click Get Noise Profile.

Compression, expansion, noise gate, threshold, ratio—what does it all mean? Should you use a software audio compressor, or a hardware compressor?

LAME is still the best MP3 encoder, but further tests and conversations reveal that it just may not be the best for podcasting. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. Variable bitrate (VBR) MP3s and LibSyn Bob Jordan wrote in to point me to LibSyn's PDF on their Podcast Companion App, which reveals an incompatibility with VBR MP3s. Avoid using VBR (Variable Bit Rate Encoding) as it is not compatible with our system. I exchanged several emails with top people at LibSyn and they confirmed that VBR files are absolutely not compatible with the iOS app they offer as part of their larger hosting packages. Extensive study revealed a few portable digital audio players that have trouble with VBR, and even some minor issues in iTunes. LAME versus Fraunhofer As I explained in more detail in episode 6, LAME is the best MP3 codec for quality, that is, when you use it with variable bitrate (VBR). LAME is terrible at constant bitrate (CBR). However, Fraunhofer, the creator of MP3 compression, has an MP3 encoder that is the best at CBR. Fraunhofer's MP3 encoder is not free—it's usually included in expensive audio-editors like Adobe Audition. However, Fraunhofer IIS's own site tells how you can get their MP3 encoder for free. If you are an end user and would like to use the Fraunhofer mp3 encoder or decoder, please use Apple iTunes or Windows Media which integrate the Fraunhofer mp3 software. Please note, that although mp3 was developed at Fraunhofer IIS, we do not sell any mp3 products to end users and do not provide end user support for mp3 devices and software. [Emphasis added] I've known that Fraunhofer was credited in iTunes, but didn't realize until reading this that iTunes does use his actual MP3 encoder, not just parts of his technology. So if you don't already have iTunes, download it now for free. Encoding MP3s: convenience and potential incompatibilities vs. speed and hassle The method I'm about to show you for encoding Audacity projects into MP3 via iTunes is more of a hassle, with several additional steps and some cleanup. But when you have everything set right, it may be a whole lot faster. 45-minute stereo podcast in Audacity on a Core i7 MacBook Pro: Export from Audacity as LAME, VBR quality 5, joint stereo: 8 minutes, 10 seconds Export from Audacity to uncompressed WAV, use iTunes to convert to 128 kbps CBR, joint stereo: 2 minutes Although it's a little more of a hassle to use iTunes, the above test revealed a 75% savings in time and produces a file guaranteed to work everywhere. How to make an MP3 from Audacity and iTunes 1. Export as WAV In Audacity 1.3 (beta), go to the File menu and click Export, name your file, change your format to "WAV (Microsoft) signed 16-bit PCM," and then click Save. There are no options for WAVs 2. Drag into iTunes I suggest for creating a playlist or smart playlist to hold your new files. But however you drag the WAV into iTunes is fine. 3. Configure iTunes for MP3s Go to the Edit menu (Windows) or iTunes menu (OS X) and click Preferences, click Import Settings… under General, set Import Using to "MP3 encoder," Setting to "Good quality (128 kbps)," then click OK and OK. 4. Convert Right-click your imported WAV and click Create MP3 Version. 5. Find the MP3 Search your iTunes library for the new MP3 file, drag it out of iTunes back into your folder, and now it's ready to be tagged and uploaded. You can also delete the uncompressed WAV and delete the files from iTunes if you want. Although this is many more steps and leaves a little cleanup behind,

I get a little controversial in the episode as I address four of someone else's reasons why you shouldn't use Audacity. Don't worry, I remain loyal. I also share news about the BlackBerry Podcasts app for BlackBerry Smartphones. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. Bradley Bradwell's four reasons against Audacity From Brad's World of Online Trends (part of Chris Pirillo's network) comes his blog post, "4 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Use Audacity." Although Bradley Bradwell makes some good points, I argue that they are mostly invalid and he even concludes that Audacity is "the best on the market in terms of free audio editing software." What do I think? Check out his blog post and listen to my responses! 1. "You need to download the LAME" Yes, it's disappointing that LAME (for encoding MP3s) cannot legally be included with Audacity, but I explain that it really isn't hard to find because it's linked from the Audacity download page, and Audacity 1.3 even gives you a link straight to the instructions for Mac and Windows. The installation process is actually simple enough that you don't even have to find the program you installed, just try to save the MP3 again and Audacity knows where LAME is. 2. "It’s unstable" Although Audacity can crash and it has on me, I know exactly what I did to cause it. Usually, I tried to cancel a heavy process or I got impatient. During the live show, one of the chatters reported that he has used Audacity for six years and never saw it crash. Make sure you're using 1.3 (beta)! A lot of problems may be due to using an old version on new software and hardware. 3. "It has difficulty handling longer track" This can make sense if you don't have much RAM, are running an intense process, or have several other programs running at the same time, but I have never had problems with long tracks. I have even recorded for more than two hours and edited the file! No problems there. Again, make sure you have the latest beta version. It's always a good idea to save often. 4. "The user interface can be challenging for beginners" Interestingly, Bradley says within this point that Audacity is simpler than Garageband and concludes by saying, "Audacity is a great program for the everyday user." I actually think that the best programs start with a blank "canvas" for you, the artist—or would you rather have Clippy? As long as you know base select, cut, copy, paste, and delete commands, you can do decent stuff with Audacity. Also consider that it's the most-popular free audio-editor, so there are loads of video tutorials and step-by-step instructions on the Internet. I'll be producing some video tutorials myself! I still stand by my recommendations of Audacity and will continue to use it until I have put my money first into equipment. Even then, I may buy something else instead of replacing Audacity. Podcasting news: new BlackBerry Podcast App Research in Motion (RIM) have released a free BlackBerry podcast client so you can find, subscribe to, and listen to podcasts on any BlackBerry smartphone. This is great news for consumers and us podcasters! To submit your podcast to the new app, sign up for a free account (your username/email will be case-sensitive), go to the Podcasts menu in the upper-right, click Submit New, complete the simple form, and then Submit. It may take a little time to be approved, but I recommend that you jump on this right away. UPDATE: One of my listeners, Rob Robideau, quickly made an excellent blog post with screenshots to show you, step-by-step,

You have probably heard a lot of false things about stats, especially Feedburner's RSS stats. I'm here to tell you the truth! Make sure you listen to the episode because I explain everything in much more detail than I'm writing in the shownotes.