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Podcasting

Podcasting

How to set up iTunes to receive a Podcast

  1. If you do not have iTunes installed on your local machine, using a standard web browser, go to the Apple home page http://www.apple.com/itunes and click on the “Free Download” button to download iTunes.

  2. Open the iTunes that you have just downloaded and installed.

    iTunes1.gif
  3. Click on the “Advanced” tab in iTunes and select “Subscribe to Podcast…” from the drop-down menu.

  4. Paste the copied shortcut into the URL window of the "Subscribe to Podcast" dialog. Click "OK" to subscribe to the Podcast.

    subscribe.gif

  5. Once you have subscribed to the Podcast, iTunes populates the "Podcasts" screen with information about the podcast. Expanding the field shows all the available recorded sessions. If the Podcast had several recordings before you subscribed, only the latest will be downloaded unless you click on the "GET" button located next to the filename. iTunes will usually check daily for the latest podcast of your course. If a new course session is posted, it will download this automatically. You can also manually click the "Update" button to force iTunes to check for all the latest available sessions.
podcast.gif

You can also repeat the procedure to subscribe to another course that is offered in this manner.

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User's Guide

1. If you are in the Faculty of Engineering and would like to create a Podcast for course purposes, the following steps explain how to get started. You will need:=

2. To create a podcast directory and an MySQL database on the server (schooner) - contact Mike Hurst (Engineering Computing x: 36146).
NOTE: I created additional directories on the server schooner (podcast/2006/Spring/ChE41) and (podcast/2006/Spring/ChE46) for the Chemical Engineering course podcasts.

3. To obtain the scripts (files) for podcasting go to http://web.uwaterloo.ca/documentation/podcast/index.php (Jesse Rodgers x: 3874) and download the software to the podcast directory. Unzip the file to obtain the following files:
image002.jpg

4. Edit the config.php file and change the variable names to describe your podcast.

5. Edit the create.sql file and change the table name in the first line to the table name that you will create (i.e. ChE41)

CREATE TABLE `ChE41` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`name` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
`description` text NOT NULL,
`author` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
`uploaded_at` datetime NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 0:00:00',
`filetype` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
`filesize` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`filename` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
`duration` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`bitrate` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=2 ;

6. To create the table (i.e. ChE41) in the MySQL database, launch the website http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/phpMyAdmin and login with your userID and the MySQL password that Mike supplied when he created the database for you.

  • On the left hand side window under the Database drop down menu, select your database (your userID).
  • Click on SQL button on the right and cut and paste the create.sql file in the “RunSQL query/queries on database …” window and click on the Go button to create the table or
  • Browse to the location of the create.sql file and run it (Go button).


MyAdmin.jpg

7. Download a free copy of iTunes to your local disk. (www.apple.com/itunes) and install it on your PC.

8. With Administrative privileges on your local PC, configure iTunes to get increased control over the quality of the imported audio files. Select the Edit menu - Preferences - Advanced tab - Importing tab and change the settings as shown below:

iTunes.jpg

iTunes2.gif

9. Record the lecture using the iPod with the associated accessories. You will need a voice recorder for the iPod and it is also a good idea to use a lapel mike. We purchased a GriffiniTalk and a GriffinLapel Mic for convenience in recording the lectures. We also purchased a cover with a belt clip to protect the iPod and to eliminate hand holding for playing or recording.

10. When the GriffiniTalk is plugged into the iPod, under the “Voice Memos”, a “Record Now” pops up on the screen and the recording session starts. The recorded files are given filenames with the dates and times of the recorded session (5/1 8:30AM). Once you have completed the lecture, “Save” the file.

. iTalk.jpg iMic.gif

11. Launch iTunes and attach the iPod to the USB port of your computer using the USB connector cable provided with your player. An iPod icon will appear as a new hard drive in the Source list in iTunes - the left hand side menu. The recordings are in the iPod “Voice Memos” directory. iTunes will automatically prompt you to move the “voice memos” (.wav files) to your iTunes music library. Allow iTunes to do the copying for you. Click on the “Recently Added” directory in the Source list to find the .wav file that you just moved from the iPod to iTunes. It will be in a format similar to 20060516 083010.wav which denotes the year, month, day and time of the recording. You can now disconnect the iPod from your PC.

12. To decrease the amount of disk space the .wav file uses, convert the .wav file to an .mp3 file. While still in iTunes, select the .wav file and click on the Advanced menu - Convert Selection to MP3. Copy (drag and drop) the newly created .mp3 files to your podcast directory (podcast/2006/Spring/ChE41) on the server schooner. This is the podcast that you will be uploading to the MySQL table – the table that iTunes checks to gets it’s podcast update information.

13. To keep all your recordings (.wav files) and the converted files (.mp3) for a specific topic in one directory, create a new Playlist in iTunes. File – New Playlist – ChE41 and copy (drag and drop) the .wav and .mp3 files into the newly created directory.

14. Run the software submit.php (http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/podcast/2006/Spring/ChE41/submit.php ) to upload the .mp3 file to the table we created earlier. iTunes gets its information from this table for the podcast updates. You will be informed when the uploading has been completed as it may take some time. Bookmark this URL for future podcast uploads.

15. To subscribe to this podcast in iTunes:



16. To upload the .mp3 file to UW-ACE:
Logon to UWACE and in the “Lectures” menu – Add Content-Add a Folder and call it “Podcasts”.
In the Podcast folder, Add Content-Add a File. Browse to the .mp3 file you copied from iTunes to the server schooner. (podcast/2006/Spring/ChE41/filename.mp3) and Upload the File to UW-ACE. The students can download the .mp3 file to their .mp3 players, listen to it in iTunes or listen to it in UW-ACE.

17. Interesting podcast links: http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/techspecs.html

http://www.apple.com/podcasts/techspecs.html_Toc526931673

http://web.uwaterloo.ca

http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts

http://wiki.ucalgary.ca/page/Podcasting

http://128.210.157.22:1013/Boilercast/iTunesSetup.htm

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Podcast Script Information

How can I get the scripts to work for me?

Please note that this code is not supported by anyone. If you use it, you do so on your own. Communication and Public Affairs (CPA) does not offer podcast support but if you need 5-10 min of help setting it up, you are welcome to give Jesse Rodgers a call at ext: 3874. If any of these steps scare you, please do not try to use the set of scripts.

Step-by-step:

  1. unzip the package into a directory on your web server.
  2. update the file “create.sql” by changing the table name
  3. update the file “config.php” by updating all the variables
  4. execute “create.sql” to create the table
  5. load “index.php” in your favourite browser
  6. upload a new podcast
  7. subscribe to podcast

IMPORTANT: You must allow the script to have write permission to the following “media” directory you get when you unzip the file; you can add the user “apache” to the group in which the media dir belongs to.

Talk to your system administrator for changes to php.ini such as memory cache, maximum execution time of each script, maximum size of post data that PHP will accept and maximum allowed size for uploaded files. 

max_execution_time = 120     ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds
post_max_size = 240M         ; Maximum size of POST data that PHP will accept
upload_max_filesize = 80M    ; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files
Your system administrator might have a better idea for managing how PHP writes to the “media directory” as well.

Please keep all files intact and in the same place since they are dependent on each other.

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Schematics for Podcasting

  iPod.gif Record and Save lecture ("voice memo") on iPod
  line1.gif Upload "voice memo" (*.wav file) from iPod to your PC using iTunes on your PC.
line2.gif pc.jpg Convert .wav file to .mp3 file using iTunes on your PC
  line3.gifUpload .mp3 file to a server file share (eg. schooner)
  server1.jpgUpload .mp3 file from file share on server (eg. schooner) to MySQL database on server (eg. schooner)
  line5.gif Upload the .mp3 file from file share on server (eg. schooner) to UW-ACE.
  UWACE.gif 

Glossary

iTunes: is a proprietary digital media player application, launched by Apple Computer for playing and organizing digital music and video files. The program is also the interface to manage the music on Apple’s popular iPod digital audio player. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes

Server: a host computer on a network that holds information (i.e. Web servers, database servers – MySQL) and relays information to a client upon the client sending it a request.

MySQL: an open source relational database management system that uses Structured Query Language, the most popular language for adding, accessing, and processing data in a database. http://www.mysql.com

Podcast: is professional or homemade audio broadcasts available on the Internet so that it can be listened to at the user's convenience. http://www.podcastingnews.com/articles/What_is_Podcasting.html

iPod: is a brand of portable media player designed and marketed by Apple Computer.

.wav: digitized sound file format for which has ".wav" as the file name extension

.mp3 compression scheme used to transfer audio files via the Internet and store in portable players and digital audio servers.

-- Main.haustin - 10 Jul 2006