I can't believe I did it!!

I have conquered my fear of the podcasting. Weren't there Pods in Wrinkle in Time??? They sound so familiar. So, for the only person who doesn't own an iPod, I'm doing pretty good with playing around with it. I can lightly scroll up and down and click on the menu. I still keep putting it up to my ear like a cell phone. What a dork! Or as my number one daughter tells me, "you are so lame". Speaking of LAME, now I know what it is. I also have the AUDACITY of HOPE, and I'm mixing soundtracks like a professional. Well, sort of. I'm sure I'm making it more difficult than it has to be.

Cool things I found -- podsafe audio network has lots of good music to use for the podcast. I really wanted to use some of my favorite music tunes, but, alas, I don't want to pay royalties for using it. I also found some cool audio sounds. People are so fascinating. Some people just love to go out and record sounds. Dripping water, rolling dice, the fast trains in France, a forest, whatever you want is out there. I'm really glad that the creative people of the world get to go out and do their thing and publish it for the world to see. What did they do before the Internet? They had to keep it all to themselves. They all look so happy and pleased that people are sharing in their interests and art.

My first podcast was way too long. I thought that I wouldn't be able to find enough to talk about, but for some reason, I had a lot to say. I've tried several different ways to record. I only had a cheap microphone headset, but Audacity seemed to like my voice. I finally got the file down to a manageable size. I want to use my podcasts on my Blackboard class that I am teaching, but I need to make the audio files less than 3mb. It seems like this translates to 3 minutes worth of podcasting.

My students took it out for a testdrive and the young ones really seemed to like it. They thought my scary voice was "way awesome". They really knew the material already, so they weren't interested in my topic. The older adults who were learning algebra for the first time were interested in hearing it. I don't think anyone will be downloading it and working out to it on their iPod. It's more like a computer listening thing.

I'm now in the mood for more, more, more. I do feel a little self-conscious sitting in my office with the door closed while I"m recording. I wonder what my office mates are thinking that I'm doing. I already have a reputation as an introvert, so this isn't helping my cause. But, I'll get over it. They don't even know what a podcast is anyway.