In This Chapter
Finding out what podcasts are
Evaluating the equipment and tools needed for podcasting
Finding fun audio files to include in your podcast
Getting your podcast onto the Web
At this point, you've set up a blog and sampled what life is like for the average blogger. Maybe you've chosen what it is you'd like to talk about, written a few posts, and have hit that publish button more than once. Seems almost easy, doesn't it? Of course, you need to do quite a number of technical things, but after everything is set up and working properly, writing your thoughts and publishing them on the Internet is simple! How could it get any more challenging?
Enter the podcast. Basically, a podcast is either a video or an audio file that's published on the Internet for people to download and listen to or view. This is normally done using blog software but publishing a podcast can be done in various ways — it's just easier when you already have a blog to use! The audio podcasts are a lot like radio programs, and the video podcasts are comparable to short films.
The production process for a podcast is (in theory) simple: You go out into the world, record a video or some audio, edit it on your computer, and then upload the files to your blog for release onto the Internet. The files are then downloaded by your blog's readers, who can still leave comments and interact with your blog in the usual way.
Intrigued? There's no denying that podcasts are attracting a whole new audience to the blogosphere. With software being improved and portable hardware units being created to consume these kinds of media, podcasting might be something you should seriously consider adding to your blog.
If you want to become the coolest podcaster in your neck of the woods, check out Podcasting For Dummies, by Tee Morris and Evo Terra.
Podcasts come in all flavors. You can find personal podcasts, technical podcasts, sports reports, music samples, recorded social gatherings, previously recorded radio broadcasts, book reviews, and audio books. If you can think of a topic, there's probably a podcast for it.
Knit Picks (www.knitpicks.com) is a knitting yarn and supplies company that offers a regular podcast about knitting activities, techniques, books, and guest interviews in an informative and entertaining mix. The Knit Picks podcast subscription page is shown in Figure 14-1 .
Blogs and podcasts can look very similar; the main difference being that a podcast entry contains a media file that can be downloaded by the consumer either by directly accessing the Web site or by subscribing to your syndicated blog feed, also known as the RSS feed. A “blog feed” is another name for RSS feed.
If you've already subscribed to a number of blogs, you know that a syndicated blog feed contains information such as the title of the post, the main content, and maybe some author information. (Find out more about RSS feeds in Chapter 11.) A podcast feed, in addition to the typical entry information, contains a link to a media file. If a consumer subscribes to a podcast feed with an RSS reader, most modern readers automatically download the files so the users can listen or watch at their convenience.
Podcasting in ancient times
In 2003, a number of bloggers thought it would be interesting to record their thoughts out loud and then publish the audio, usually as MP3 files, through their blogs. Some started releasing audio blog entries on a regular basis. What happened next was a bit of a surprise. Because of the rising popularity of MP3 players such as Apple's iPod, the audience for these podcasts grew extremely quickly. And, thanks to RSS feeds, it was easy to retrieve and download the latest recordings. People from all over the world started listening, recording, and publishing their own audio blogs. Several audio blogs became popular enough to gain some notice within the mainstream media. A hidden audience had been discovered.
In fact, most people believe the word
podcastcomes from the Apple iPod device, a popular MP3 player that can store and play podcasts and music. This is close, but not the whole truth. Podcasts arose at the same time that Apple's device came on the scene, and the name podcast was conceived by bloggers to echo the idea that these audio files could be listened to on the go in a hand‐held device. But the files could always be played by many devices, and in fact, most podcasts are listened to on a computer, not an MP3 player. Some say the word comes from a combination of the acronympod(podstanding for portable‐on‐demand) and the wordbroadcast,but this meaning evolved after the word itself, probably in response to Apple's attempts in 2005 to try to restrict the commercial use of the wordpod.Although some bloggers were also experimenting with video, it took until 2005 for videocasting to really start to gain traction. Two technological shifts helped make this happen: iTunes, the program most people used to subscribe to podcasts, started supporting video, and YouTube, the video‐sharing site, made uploading and sharing video a much more common online activity.
Portable video cameras were fairly cheap, and a number of online services like file storage and video hosting started catering to new video producers. Video blogging was born and, with the advent of YouTube and Google Video, became one of the most powerful mediums on the Internet. And, the most amazing thing is that demand for such podcasts continues to grow.
Many people like to read and enjoy taking in a well‐written blog post. However, some blog readers enjoy listening to what you have to say as an audio recording. As well, some blog followers like to watch rather than read your blog post. This is especially true if you have a compelling voice or are more photogenic than average. (I've been told I have a face for radio.) Podcasting can help you reach a different audience.
Also, some of the things you want to talk about might work better as an audio recording rather than a text post, like interviews, soundscapes, or special events. And video is even more powerful: You can show off much more of your personality than you can with just a text blog and demonstrate things that might be difficult or impossible to convey with just words.
Using a podcast, you also can reach your audience in different locations: People might listen to you as they drive or commute, or they might watch your videos on their television or their hand‐held iPod.
Think about when and where your podcast might be played and use that to help focus and inform your entries.
If you're ready to take the plunge into the production of a new podcast, you need to decide what format you want to use. Both audio and video require some specialized skills to produce.
Your level of technical competence and comfort can determine what medium you choose. You'll also need to consider what type of podcast fits with your blog's purpose — videocasting, for example, would be a poor choice for a blog targeted to those using low‐bandwidth connections.
Here are a few tips that can help you decide on what type of podcast you should use:
Audio is
Easier to produce than video due to a larger availability of open source software; most software for professional video editing is expensive.
Easier and generally quicker to edit than video.
More portable than video. Fewer portable devices are designed to deal with video than with audio.
Smaller than video files, making them less expensive to store on a Web host.
Video
Is more compelling. The visual and auditory components combined are more likely to keep a viewer from being distracted.
Can be shorter. Audiences will likely be satisfied with a 2‐4 minute video podcast, whereas they might want a much longer audio podcast.
Gives you more visual elements to work with — both when you're designing your blog and in individual entries.
Has more related sites online where you can upload and share files.
Requires the viewer's attention, whereas audio podcasts can be listened to while completing other tasks. You can listen to an audio podcast while driving to work, for example.
Video and audio files can be very large. When you upload them to your Web server, you will fill up your available disk space more quickly than you will with text and photos. As well, distributing audio and video requires more bandwidth. Be sure to keep an eye on your disk space and bandwidth usage so that you aren't hit with unexpected overage charges. Ask your Web host how to keep tabs on those elements, any fees you may accrue, and if you need more space and bandwidth.
The first thing you need to create a podcast is the desire to make it the best experience for the listeners that you can. If you aren't having fun, it shows in the final result. Remember, even if your very first podcast is a little frustrating, it'll get easier.
Here are a few key ingredients needed for a good podcast experience:
Planning: You don't need to write a script every single time that you decide to record a podcast — although some podcasters do this — but it helps when you jot down a few notes or create an outline to follow.
Timing: Technically speaking, you can use as much or as little time as you want in your podcast, but you may find that your end product is better when you give yourself some limits. Give some thought to how much time you can reasonably expect your audience to give you, and target that length for your podcasts. In general, podcasts range from a few minutes to an hour.
Recording conditions: When you want to record anything, you need to take into account environmental considerations before hitting the record button. Is the environment you are in quiet enough? Are there fans or computers running in the background that will annoy the listeners' ears? For video, is your situation sufficiently lighted to produce watchable video? Try to eliminate distractions, like phones ringing or people walking by. And if you can, do some test recording that you can listen to or watch so that you know what the quality of the final product will be before you record your entire podcast.
Blogging with text is relatively easy in comparison to recording a podcast, and it's also easier to hide your inexperience because you can rewrite and edit before posting. Audio and video can also be edited, but it is harder to remove stuttered speech or inappropriate facial expressions. Practice can help eliminate awkward moments.
Here are several reasons that creating a podcast is a major decision:
The learning curve: Many bloggers who might otherwise want to podcast don't because of the learning curve to build and maintain a podcast. As wonderful as podcasts can be, writing, recording, uploading, hosting, and promoting one require a high level of technical proficiency.
Planning ahead: A single podcast, like a blog entry, can be about anything, so it helps to have a clearly defined topic before you start. Unlike text editing, where you can just rewrite and rewrite, producing an audio or video podcast can be a one‐shot situation. If a phone rings in the middle of an interview, or someone walks in front of the camera at just the wrong moment, you're in trouble. Re‐creating the situation may not be possible. Try to organize your recording session to minimize this kind of disruption. As well, make sure you have enough time to record the entire podcast in the same location so that you don't have awkward changes in the background noise that distract your listener or viewer.
Finding your voice: You need to establish the tone of the piece before you go forward. How is the format of your overall podcast going to determine how you shoot or record it? Will you have some kind of traditional show format, or will you decide to improvise the entire program each time? Taking these kinds of questions into account when you're planning out your first podcast can help you make your program a success.
If you get stuck thinking about what type of podcast to add, ask your readers for suggestions. Even if only five or ten readers respond, you can get some good ideas and direction.
Here's a short list of podcast ideas that have been successful for other podcasters. Use this list to spark your creativity to find other topics that interest you:
One‐on‐one interviews: Fascinating people in your neighborhood are just waiting to get on your podcast — especially people involved in a cause, an organization, or a business. Discover more about your family's background or the adventures of your friends. See who in your acquaintance might fit the theme and direction of your podcast.
Show your expertise: Show off what you know and share your knowledge with others — maybe even teach your audience how to do something.
Soundscapes: All around you are fascinating sounds you can document. Record yourself walking through a forest or park. Make some observations about your surroundings and describe what each of the sounds is and how they're important to you. Remember, what's ordinary for you (waves at the beach, a passing train, construction noise, or a barn owl) might be fascinating for someone living on the other side of the country.
Events: A performance at your local coffee house, a city hall meeting, or a surprise party all might make for an interesting podcast. Make sure to get permission before recording or publishing your podcast.
Discussions: General discussions in social settings can reveal some great conversations. Take your recorder along to your next BBQ or evening social and direct the conversation along a theme or idea.
If you take the time to plan out what things you want to share with your subscribers, you can make it happen by taking the time to plan. With a recording device, a plan, and someone else to talk to, you can have a complete podcast episode in no time.
Making your podcast requires a bit more than your ten fingers and a computer keyboard. Podcasts require recording equipment for audio and video. Here's what you're looking at:
Computer: You need a computer of some kind. This can be a desktop or a laptop, although laptops might be more flexible and allow you to edit on the go. The computer must be able to handle the editing of audio files and, more importantly, video files. Video is a computer intensive process and requires an updated computer with a lot of disk space in order to process the large files you may be recording. Audio files can also be fairly large.
Microphone: Microphones these days are built into almost every laptop, and external microphones are easy to buy. Purchasing a good microphone from a professional audio store is the best way to go because the microphones that you would get from the average computer store or on the typical laptop are poor quality. Ask a podcaster or the staff of a good audio store for advice about the best microphone for the kind of recording situation you expect to be in. Expect to spend at least $40 for your microphone — it's not the item to economize on.
Sound‐recording and ‐editing software: To record or edit recorded audio files, you need some kind of editing software. Solutions range from free to the price of a small automobile. Let your budget be your guide. A good strategy is to start small and upgrade when you know more about podcasting and your own needs. I talk more about software options in this chapter, but a good starting point for audio software is the free program Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net). A high‐end solution is Sony's Sound Forge (www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/soundforgefamily.asp).
Video camera: If you can afford one, get one. You can also rent cameras or borrow them from family or friends. Many digital photo cameras and some cell phones also have video options and can be used for a video podcast if you aren't too worried about the quality of the video, though audio is usually quite poor from those devices. Almost all Apple computers now come with a built‐in video camera, but you can't really pan around with a desktop machine, so your video might look a little boring.
Video‐editing software: Of course, you need a tool to edit your video masterpieces once you get them off your camera and onto your computer. This can be home grown software that comes with your operating system, or you can search out some commercial alternatives. Apple users can get started quickly with iMovie (www.apple.com/ilife/imovie); for Windows users, an entry‐level option is Microsoft Movie Maker (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx). For high‐end video editing, check out Apple's Final Cut Pro (www.apple.com/finalcutpro), Avid Liquid (www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Advanced+Video/Liquid+Edition/Avid+Liquid+7).
Unless you're the sort of person who never deviates from a script or says “um,” you need some kind of software to edit your audio or video. You can spend thousands of dollars on dedicated, high‐quality equipment, or you can spend very little and use whatever you have at hand.
I suggest you give the sound editor Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) a try. It's available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux/Unix. Audacity (as shown in Figure 14-2 ) is the program of choice for many podcasters, largely because it's free and open source. Audacity is a multitrack recording program — which means you can have two pieces of audio, like a voice and a piece of music, and you can mix the two at different volumes or even fade from one to the other.
Getting video onto your computer requires more specialized equipment than audio recording. Fewer options are available in the freeware market, and editing video usually requires a more powerful computer than audio does.
Jahshaka is an open source, cross platform, free piece of video‐editing software that wants to power the new Hollywood. It's available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux/Unix.
The software is a nonlinear video editor — which means you can access any part of your video clips, delete bits of them, and splice them together in any order, without having to actually modify or destroy the original video clips. You also get additional functions such as effects rendering, animation, and audio track editing. Jahshaka supports many different video file formats.
For Mac users, iMovie is a great option. Free with the computer, iMovie is a video tool designed to make recording, editing, and publishing video as simple as possible. This tool is quick and easy to learn, but it's fairly limited in its range of effects but it does get the job done. If you want more functionality, you'll want to research some commercial video solutions.
Nothing spices up a podcast like a little intro or background music. But podcasts, even if they're produced and released at no cost to the listener, aren't exempt from copyright restrictions. The trick is to find music and/or images that are in the public domain or that are licensed for republication.
Let me be clear: Even if you use only a little bit of a copyrighted song or give the performer credit, you're still violating copyright if you don't have a license or other permission to use the music. The same goes for using copyrighted images and video clips in videocasts.
A quick word about video and codecs
When you get into editing audio and video, you eventually run into something called a codec.
Codecis a technical word for compression and decompression. You see, video files and audio files are normally compressed to create file sizes that are small and don't fill up your hard drive or create files too large for your users to download.Codecs are the mathematical rules that compress movie files for storage and decompress them to play on your computer. Codecs are part of every media player you use for music and videos. Some video files, without any compression, would be more than ten times in size than they are with a codec to compress them.
Fortunately for podcasters, some common formats are accepted by blog software and blog audiences. If you stick with MP3 for audio podcasts and MPEG for videos, you should be fine.
The good news is that plenty of this material is available for you to use. The term podsafe has appeared to describe music, sounds, and other clips that are made available for free unlimited use in podcasting, but there's no one specific license that means podsafe, so be sure to read the terms and conditions before you integrate sound or audio into your productions.
http://search.creativecommons.org
Creative Commons is an organization that has evolved a set of licenses you can use on your own content to permit or disallow use by others. If a publisher applies a Creative Commons license that allows republication, you can search for and find that content in the Creative Commons Search area, specifically requesting content that you can use for commercial purposes or modify (see Figure 14-3 ).
Some of the types of licenses are:
Commercial use: Permits use of the content for business and revenue‐generating purposes.
Non‐commercial use: You may only use this media for non‐commercial podcasts.
Attribution: The work can be used only when credit is given to the creator.
Derivatives allowed: This media can be cut, chopped, and excerpted to create new works.
No‐derivatives allowed: Media must be left intact and unchanged.
Magnatune is a record label that helps artists to promote their music, share their music, and make some money doing it. The label and the artists sell their albums on CD and via downlaod and split the money evenly. The music on Magnatune (shown in Figure 14-4 ) is available for download and purchase but also is available to podcasters. To help promote their artists, podcasters are granted a waiver to use their music without paying a royalty fee.
The Podsafe Music Network is a place where artists provide tracks from their albums for sharing and use in podcasts. Everything is released using a Creative Commons license, and registered users can create play lists and download tracks to share on the podcasts.
Music is great, but what about sound effects? What podcast wouldn't be improved by a few barking dogs and fart noises? I'm kidding, of course. Sound effects can really add a lot of value to your production, from realistic sounds of dialing a phone to a spring breeze. The Freesound Project can help you dress up your podcast.
Use their simple search box to find Creative Commons licensed sound, and contribute your own sound effects.
Putting your podcast into the blogosphere is fairly simple; you write a blog post about your podcast, upload your podcast media file, and then publish it using your blog software.
But before you do that, you have a couple of tasks: You need to give your podcast some metadata, and you must choose a file format to deliver your podcast in.
Metadata, simply put, is data about data. In the case of podcasts, metadata is data that describes your video or audio podcast. Why is this important to you? When you publish a podcast — whether audio or video — you need to provide descriptive metadata that can be read by podcast systems like Apple's iTunes and in the RSS feed. After all, the computer can't listen to or watch your podcast and figure out what it contains!
Common metadata types include
Title
Author name
Publication information
Topics covered
Type of file
Descriptions
Keywords
Your editing software (both video and audio software packages) ask you to enter metadata when you create your audio or video files, and software like iTunes that is designed to support podcasts also offers you a chance to provide metadata.
Creating video and audio for general release means that you need to choose a file format your audience can consume.
Most audio bloggers release audio files in the MP3 format. It's easy to create and, with the popularity of MP3 players like the Apple iPod, easily played on a variety of devices. Most computer users are familiar with the format, and there's good built‐in support in browsers and preinstalled audio players as well.
Other options are available, such as OOG, an open format, and AAC, a format popular on Apple computers. The Apple iPod won't play OOG files, which is a significant issue for most audiences. AAC has some nice features like audio bookmarks.
Apple QuickTime files (MOV) are the standard format for videocast delivery, but you can also use Flash Video (FLV) or Microsoft Windows video files (WMV).
In recent years, the rise of services like YouTube, Google Video, and other online streaming sites mean you have an alternative to creating video podcasts in a particular format. YouTube and Google video take most formats and convert them into a common streamed format that displays using those sites' custom players. This allows podcasters to not worry about their audiences' ability to view their video — though it's important to note that these video players stream the video, they don't allow it to be downloaded for viewing offline or on a portable device. They also usually have a length limit of about ten minutes but not every service has the same restrictions. Before you choose the video service you want, check what their limitations are.
Regardless of how you plan to distribute your video, it's to your advantage to produce your files in the same format you'll deliver them — this makes for cleaner delivery and better quality control.
With a podcast ready for primetime, you're ready for the next major hurdle: where to put it online. Posting your podcast poses two problems:
Storage: You have to have somewhere to put the actual file. Audio and video files are larger than text files, so disk space is the issue in storing them.
Bandwidth: You have to account for the additional bandwidth required for your audience to download those files. Again, it takes more bandwidth to deliver audio or video to your audience than it does text or images.
You have two options: your Web‐hosting server (the one that hosts your blog) or a free storage Web site.
Check with your Web host to find out how much disk space is available and what it costs to increase your allotment. Be aware that if you keep podcasting, you'll eventually run out of disk space even if you start off with quite a bit of space. If you are a video podcaster, you will want a hosting package with several gigabytes of storage space. If you stick with only audio, you will need a few gigabytes to start. As your podcasts grow, you will require more and more space, so, keep that in mind. I talk about choosing a Web host in Chapter 6.
Bandwidth is the second issue to look at. Most Web hosting packages comes with a standard amount of bandwidth included, and you're charged if you use more than that. Fees are pretty reasonable, unless your podcast because the hottest thing on the Web and your traffic becomes astronomical.
Most hosting packages come with a finite amount of disk space and bandwidth. You most likely can post only a certain number of podcasts before your hosting package runs out of space. Unless you have the dollars to spend, you'll probably need to find an alternative for storing your files.
Luckily for podcasters, there's a great service called Archive.org (www.archive.org), and all podcasters should be aware of its existence. Archive.org is the home of the Internet Archive, a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to build an Internet library where researchers, historians, and the general public can store and access text, audio, moving images, software, and a vast collection of archived Web pages.
You can upload your podcasts to the Internet Archive for free, as long as you comply with its guidelines and describe your content. The system also provides and converts your video or audio format into other formats for increased accessibility.
Here are a couple of other places you can upload your podcast to:
YouTube: (www.youtube.com) If you haven't seen a YouTube video on a blog or Web site lately, you must be living under a rock. This site has soared in popularity. When you upload a video to YouTube, your video is listed on the YouTube site and can be viewed and commented on there, but you can also grab the code for the file and embed it directly into your Web site or blog posts. Files you upload to YouTube are reformatted into Flash Video. They must be shorter than 10 minutes and under 100MB in size.
Google Video: (http://video.google.com) This service of the popular search engine allows you to upload a video for free and then share it via e‐mail or by posting it to your blog. You can upload AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, Real, or Windows Media files. You can also choose whether to have your files display in the Google Video search results.
With your audio and video online and your blog post created, the final step is to make sure your blog has an RSS Web feed. Podcasts are typically delivered to playback software (like Apple iTunes) through a subscription to your blog's RSS feed. I talk extensively about setting up and using RSS in Chapter 11.
Suffice to say that you need an RSS feed so that your viewers and listeners can subscribe to it themselves, but also so that you can promote your podcast using some of the handy podcast promotional directories and software out there.
Publishing your podcast on your Web site is a good start to publicizing your podcast, but you can get the word out in more effective ways. If you already have a good promotional system built into your site and a decent‐sized audience, you can get users to subscribe to your podcast without too much additional marketing, but if you need a little more promotion, you can use a number of strategies.
FeedBurner (www.feedburner.com) provides custom tracking and customization of podcast feeds. If you submit your podcast to Feedburner's service, you can implement some good promotion tools to help your podcast get more play.
FeedBurner has a lot to offer bloggers and podcasters. FeedBurner gives you the ability to track the number of subscribers to your feed and also provides you with tools to make your feeds compatible with every RSS reader available. You can also use FeedBurner to add metadata to your files, and keep track of which podcasts are actually being downloaded.
When you use FeedBurner, your podcast is also added to the major podcast directories, making sure that people can find your podcast.
To use FeedBurner, you must already have an RSS feed. If you're using blog software, it's likely you already have a feed. Check your documentation for more information, and jump to Chapter 11 for more about RSS feeds. Follow these steps to create a feed with Feedburner:
Go to http://feedburner.com.
The home page appears, as shown in Figure 14-5 .
Create an account on FeedBurner if you don't already have one.
On the FeedBurner home page, paste the Web address (URL) of your RSS feed into the Start FeedBurning Now field.
Check the I Am a Podcaster! box.
Click the Next button.
FeedBurner verifies that the feed is working and loads the Welcome screen.
Give your feed a title, if it doesn't already have one.
You can also customize the feed address, if desired.
Click the Activate Feed button.
FeedBurner creates your new feed and loads a screen that displays the Web address of your feed.
Click the Next button.
FeedBurner loads the podcast configuration screen.
Fill out the configuration screen:
Create podcast enclosures from links to: Choose the kinds of files that should be included in your podcast — any, audio, video, or images.
Include iTunes podcasting elements: Deselect this box if you don't want your podcast listed in Apple's iTunes Music Store.
Category: Choose a category from the drop‐down menu. You can also choose a subcategory.
Podcast image location: If you have created a graphic for your podcast, paste the Web address of the graphic into this field.
Podcast subtitle: Expand on your title in this field.
Podcast summary: Provide a short description of your podcast.
Podcast search keywords: Provide descriptive keywords for your podcast.
Podcast author e‐mail address: Fill in your email address.
Include “Media RSS” information and add podcast to Yahoo! Search: Deselect this box if you don't wish to be included in Yahoo! Search.
Contains explicit content: Select yes, no, or yes (cleaned). Use the information icon if you want help understanding how FeedBurner defines explicit content.
Copyright message: Provide a short copyright message.
Podcast author: Fill in your name.
Click the Next button.
FeedBurner loads the traffic statistics screen.
Fill out the Feed Traffic Statistics screen:
Clickthroughs: Select this box if you want to know when subscribers use your feed to come to your Web site.
Item enclosure downloads: Select this box if you want to which podcast entries are actually downloaded by your subscribers.
Click the Next button.
FeedBurner finished burning your feed. You can begin monitoring subscriptions and activity on your feed using FeedBurner.
After you create a feed with FeedBurner, head to your site and put the link to your new feed on your blog and urge your blog visitors to subscribe.
After your feed is listed with FeedBurner, you can actually keep track of how many subscribers you have and how they're using your podcast, which is useful information if you plan to pursue funding or sponsorship.
Due to the overwhelming popularity of Apple's iTunes software as the main podcast viewer, you absolutely must submit your podcast to its service — unless you, for some reason, don't want people to find your podcast.
If you have a FeedBurner feed set up, you've already taken care of some of the optimization to make your feed work well in iTunes. Be sure to use the FeedBurner feed address when you sign up in iTunes.
If you have the iTunes software installed on your computer, you can submit your podcast using the iTunes interface. You have to sign up for an Apple ID prior to submission of your podcast because each submission is associated with a user account. It's also a good idea to have a few entries in your feed and to make sure the feed is working well. Podcast submissions are reviewed by Apple iTunes staff prior to being added to the store. They can refuse podcasts for even very small reasons, and it is difficult to get added if you've been turned down once.
To submit your podcast, you must already have an RSS feed. If you're using blog software, it's likely you already have a feed. Check your documentation for more information, and jump to Chapter 11 for more about RSS feeds.
In order to get your podcast into the iTunes store, here are the brief steps that you need to follow.
Start your iTunes software.
Click the iTunes Store navigation item in the left column.
Select the Podcasts link from the iTunes Store menu on the left side of the screen.
The Podcasts page appears.
Click the Submit a Podcast graphic located in the middle of the page.
This link is also available under the Learn More menu on the bottom left.
iTunes loads the Submit Podcasts page.
Enter the RSS feed of your podcast in the Podcast Feed URL field and click the Continue button.
If you are not logged in to the iTunes Store, you're prompted to login at this point.
iTunes submits your feed for review by Apple staff.
After you've submitted your podcast, it might take several days or even weeks until your feed shows up in the iTunes library of podcasts.
Podcast directories direct would‐be listeners and viewers to known podcasts. Getting listed in these directories is an easy step in letting people know about your podcast. Most directories are organized by topic, and many of them offer subscription features to allow people to quickly sign up for your podcast. Listing your podcast in these directories is never a bad idea and will most certainly provide you with new traffic.
Here's where you should get your podcast listed:
Podcast Alley: (www.podcastalley.com) This site contains a podcast directory as well as news and information about podcasting.
Podcast.net: (www.podcast.net) Podcasts are organized by category (for example, entertainment or sports), and the home page displays a list of recently updated podcasts.
Odeo: (www.odeo.com) Plans are underway to turn this excellent directory site into a resource for tools and functionality.
Podcast Pickle: (www.podcastpickle.com) This is one of the older podcast directories and offers visitors organization tools for the podcasts they subscribe to.
Podnova: (www.podnova.com) This is more than just a directory. You can subscribe, listen, view, read, and maintain your feeds online.
And if that doesn't do it for you, check out Robin Good's extensive list of podcast directories at www.masternewmedia.org/podcast_directory.