On Sunday before creating the podcast, I grabbed the book Podcasting: Do It Yourself Guide by Todd Cochrane. In it, he gives a pretty detailed view of what you need to do in order to get started creating your own podcasts.

In the book, he includes information on things like:

• Getting Started
• The RIAA and playing music in your podcast
• Recording Software
• Microphones
• Advanced Studios (Mixers, Noise Gates / Compressors, Phone Patches)
• Recording your podcast
• Post Production (including noise reduction, something I consciously skipped in the first podcast)
• Editing Techniques
• Identifying a hosting provider to host your podcast
• Figuring out what bandwidth you’ll need
• Promotion
• … and a lot more

I found the book really informative and an easy to read primer on what you needed to do in order to get started. My goal was to put together one podcast and see if I liked the process. It was a lot more fun than I had originally thought it would be and I think it was worth the time spent. This book pointed me to software like Audacity, that allowed me to do it for the cost of a cheap, $20.00 microphone.

Todd currently runs Geek News Central, a web site dedicated to”create a quality site for people of all ages and backgrounds”. I just downloaded the latest podcast from this site to see what he is all about.

Bottom line, I enjoyed the book and found it really useful. Pick it up if you are looking to see what is involved in podcasting. The book is perfect for beginners, but also has a lot of advanced information. As I learn more, I keep referring to the book to find answers to questions and, to my surprise, I’m finding the answers in this book. So this isn’t just a one read book. The more you learn, the more you’ll pick up using this book as a reference.