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Podcasting anytime, anywhere

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Multimedia blogs—audio podcasts and videocasts—allow you to talk to millions of people around the world. Your Windows Mobile powered device can help you share your thoughts the instant you have something to say.

You probably already have the tools you need. All Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Smartphone devices can record sound using a built-in microphone and included software. Many devices also come with a built-in camera. If your device doesn’t have one, you can buy an add-on camera that installs easily in the expansion slot. Or you can use other still images in your collection to create a video slideshow.

If you use a Smartphone, the Voice Notes application is great for recording podcast audio. You will need to convert your audio to a different format before you post it online, however. Voice Notes stores audio in the WAV format, which results in very large files and long downloads. The Windows Media format gives you excellent sound quality with much smaller files. Transfer the WAV file to your personal computer and use Windows Media Player to convert your broadcast.

Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone devices can record sound in the Notes application. Use the VCR-like controls on the Recording Toolbar to start and stop your recording. For video, use your device’s camera application. When given the choice, make sure you save your video in the Motion-JPEG AVI format, a format supported by most inexpensive editing applications.

While you can post your unedited audio or video, three free tools make it easy to edit and polish your work. In all cases, you need to transfer your raw work to your personal computer for final editing work.

Once you’ve finalized your audio or video, you’re ready to broadcast it. All you need to do is copy the file to a Web site that can serve it as a podcast or videocast. Blip.tv and Ourmedia both host your casts for free and publish them as an RSS 2.0 feed, which allows people to subscribe to them. You may also want to try MSN Spaces, which lets people watch your video without leaving your MSN Spaces blog page. People can check out your work with a single click.

Creating your own multimedia blog is very easy to do, and is lots of fun—even if your audience consists only of your friends and family.

-- Kevin Ebi

Comments

  • Anonymous
    May 10, 2006
    OK, Kevin, I'm a little confused.  I think I get all of what you're saying about creating the audio/video (which is totally cool, BTW), but from what I've read, there are only certain media formats supported by podcasting, and Windows Media and AVI are (sadly) not among them.

    What am I missing here?

  • Anonymous
    May 11, 2006
    Paul,
    You should definitely post your completed project in the Windows Media format. It will give your viewers great quality audio and video, and it will download quickly. You just can't record your podcast that way. Audio and video editors can't edit Windows Media files, unfortunately. Once your podcast is all polished, though, you should definitely convert it into the Windows Media format to share.

  • Anonymous
    May 14, 2006
    While Microsoft doesn't produce any podcast-specific tools, they sure want you to think of their product when you consider how to create your podcast. As near as I can tell, they want you to record into your Pocket PC and...

  • Anonymous
    May 15, 2006
    Isn't there an easier way to create audio, without needing a windows mobile device? is there any way to integrate these into the msn music store, or windows media player?

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    February 14, 2008
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