Create your own podcast

Now it's time to get your podcast out there.

If you have access to an FTP server, just create a new folder and upload your MP3. If you don't have an FTP server, you'll need to find a site that will host your podcast. A good place to start is Ourmedia.org. For now, it's free and doesn't limit file bandwidth, but the site screens all podcasts and will remove any content it deems inappropriate.

Some fee-based sites, such as Audioblog.com and Liberated Syndication, charge monthly fees starting at $5. They may also impose monthly data-transfer limits, so if too many people download your podcast, you could face additional charges.

Ideally, you should now save your recording as an MP3 file, preferably using a 32Kbps to 64Kbps bit rate. In Audacity, with the LAME MP3 encoder installed, this is also the chance to add ID3-tag info: your name, the name of the podcast, and so on. Without this, listeners won't be able to find your show on their MP3 players.

The last thing you need to do is upload a podcast feed, an RSS file that includes a description of your podcast, a link to the corresponding MP3, and other information. You can create this file in a number of ways. The free ways are to do it yourself (you'll need to know XML, though), to use the free podcast RSS-feed generator at TD Scripts.com, or to use the generator available to Ourmedia users. Generators are also part of third-party software apps such as iPodcast Producer, as well as some fee-based hosting services.