Podcasts

Over the past several years podcasts have become extremely popular. With large numbers of students and adults reading eBooks or listening to audiobooks, it is no wonder that many have started subscribing to podcasts as well. And why not? Podcasts can be about almost any topic and are now being hosted by athletes, actors, musicians, politicians, doctors, authors, and more. For those who learn by listening, podcasts are the perfect past time because they allow the listener to start and stop an episode when needed, they are available on various apps, and they cover a wide variety of information. 

Schools have even started utilizing podcasts in different types of situations. Teachers could use a podcast to deliver a lesson to a class or could have students use podcasts to record their discussion of a book, take notes about a nonfiction topic, or create an interview. Librarians could use podcasts to add to the library experience by creating book trailers to listen to, creating lists of new materials in the library, promoting the library, and letting students create book reviews. 

I decided to look at a few different sites that allow one to create a podcast. Here is what I found:

Anchor

This site is run by Spotify and seems fairly easy to use. After creating an account, one can go ahead and record a podcast. Some of the positive aspects of this site include:

* One can add songs from Spotify to the podcast

* One can use commentary from a previous episode in a new episode

* There are free sound effects that can be added to a podcast

* There is a way to set up a financial benefit with the podcast meaning listeners pay a small amount to listen

When looking for negative aspects, I honestly didn't really find any. I think that this is a good site for those just starting to create their own podcasts. 

Buzzsprout

This is another site that appears easy for beginners to use. Some positive notes about this site include:

* Very easy to sign up for an account

* One can edit/create the look of the podcast page

* One can set up monetizing in connection with the podcast

* There is a section where one can read blogs, look at videos or listen to other podcasts that offer information about podcasting

The only negative note I have about this site is it looks like the space is limited to a certain amount (2 hours) per month. 

Podbean

This is the site I am most familiar with as I have used it a few times to create podcasts. Out of the three sites, this one seems the most advanced. Some positive notes are:

* One can share podcasts by either a link or through social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and YouTube

* One can add their podcast to a number of podcasts apps including one for Podbean, Google, Spotify, and I💓Radio

* One can customize what the background will look like on the website or app for the podcast

* On the app for Podbean, one can collaborate with another person to do a combined podcast

The main thing I noticed that was negative was this site seems a little harder to figure out than the other 2 podcast sites. 

Click on the link below to hear my podcast about book bans. I collaborated with another person named Devan. Since we have both used Podbean before, we decided to record our podcast using that site. However, I would recommend that beginners start with one of the other sites I mentioned.😊

Podcast

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