Not so very long ago, I had the opportunity to Podcast. I used one of the many online forums which will host your podcast either for free or for a charge. They range in cost from quite fair to quite pricey but they also base that on how much space they allow you to use on their site.

For me it seems that pod-casting runs in the family. My dad is a pod-caster as well. His show The Lorenzo Commentaries is run on his local college radio station of WMPG 90.9 FM back in Portland, Maine where I grew up and he still lives. He has it hosted thru a site on the web called Libsyn.com.

His was different from mine. I used Podcastpeople.com and the title, as a web address was whatthe.podcastpeople.com since I kept having friends ask me things like "What the hell was that rant about? What the hell were you getting at?" Those "what the" questions kept coming up in conversations when I spoke, so it seemed appropriate for my podcast...

Now, different people use different equipment. In truth the basics are all you need. A microphone and a way to record sound. A method of putting those sounds on your computer setup (if not recorded directly onto a computer or the site itself) and an Internet hook up. Speakers will help you so you can listen to it before you send it out for others to hear.

More than that, meaning editing software, is a luxury. Things like sound effects and such (programs like Pro Tools which my dad uses) are meant for high end studio work. Production pieces that are for commercial use would sound out of place if you heard them everywhere on the Internet. That doesn't mean you can't spend your money on them, but I always found a well written script to be of much more use then an edit button.

Many people also ad lib during a podcast. I used to do that a lot. I like to talk and my site had a setup which allowed for me to just blather on in my natural fashion which was sometimes better for me to do. Pod-casting is often used as an online journal format. This has its good and bad points. If you don't watch your mouth, details which are TOO personal can slip out. You always need to be careful how much of your personal information you give out. Just because you say it instead of type it, doesn't make it a less dangerous thing to do....

So that kinda covers the equipment you need and parts of my experience, but my dealings with pod-casting are a bit more than that. I really enjoyed doing it! As much as I love writing and seeing my words help people, by reading their comments and answering their requests for topics, I love it when people ask me questions and hear my answers out loud. I love to talk to people. Even if they don't talk back. Even if I just listen to you talk AT me. I like to know you feel listened to. I enjoy knowing that you feel I want to help by speaking to you as a friend and equal.

This made pod-casting such fun and such a joy for me; such an ideal.

This means that I miss it so much, I find it hard to explain. In my case, I find solace in writing, much as I always have. It gives me that continued outlet for helping people in some fashion. It was only in the last few weeks I even took up writing on sites like this one. I don't write to get paid. I write to write. I write because I can do nothing else and want nothing more than to write. I am a female, Scorpio, writer, whose passions range so far and wide that to do other than what I do would be to slap nature in the face and spit in her eye. I don't think it wise to invite hubris.

The basic list of equpiment I think you need is this: Computer Microphone Way to record Internet YOU What you plan to record (words/sounds/others) Script (optional) Time (amount you think worth investing)

What you DON'T need: Editing software Studio space Professional Script