The whole idea of podcasting is not to be just able to publish your audio files online, but to make your audio posts “subscribable” – i.e., your listeners should be able to set up their podcasting software (like iTunes) to subscribe to your feed, in which case the software (in this example, iTunes) will automatically download your newest posts to their hard disk, as soon (or soon after) you make your posts live.
Which means, when they next sync up their mp3 player (say, iPod), your newest audio posts will automatically be synced from your subscriber’s hard disk to their iPod.
That’s the real “subscription” model of podcasting.
So how to make your WordPress feed refer to your podcast? Simple:
- Create your audio file (mp3, mp4, etc)
- Upload it to your server (into a folder in your main directory, say “podcasts”)
- Your post can have your usual text content, but make sure your post has a link to the actual audio file. Note: It has to be the full path.
Wrong: <a href="yourfile.mp3">My podcast</a>
Right: <a href="http://Example.com/podcasts/aug2007-vol1.mp3">My podcast - WordPress automatically links your feed to your audio file, such that if someone were to view your blog posts in a feed reader, and clicked on the link for your audio post, then they won’t be led to your blog, but the audio file will start playing instead.
- Once your listeners “subscribe” to your feed, their podcasting software automatically downloads new files (posts with your audio file in it) to their hard disk automatically.
WordPress is not perfect – not just yet. But there really isn’t any software out there that can do all it does: well written, open-source, extensible, has lots of plugins, and has a great community around it – like WordPress.
So, just make peace with the “comparison war” (which is better: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc), simply download WordPress (or sign up for a free blog online), and get going with your content.
Content is what makes money – not your blog software.