|
1029usr078198
Forum Admin
USA
333 Posts |
 Posted - February 07 2008 : 01:11:23
|
Hello and welcome to podcast #7 for July 4, 2007. In this installment, we’ll be looking at some tools we’ve recently found and discovered to be useful: Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, FeedForAll, and RecordForAll. We’ll be right back.
We have recently answered several service calls wherein Windows was giving the message, “Unmountable Boot Volume”. Most of the time, just booting from your Windows XP disc, starting the Recovery Console, and typing CHKDSK at the command line and pressing enter can solve this error. Not always. Sometimes you need more than that. The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows is just that. I found out about the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows in an email from PC Magazine. As a tool set, it’s great. But I must tell you, these tools are for geeks: if you don’t feel comfortable editing the registry, this probably isn’t for you, yet.
Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a techie, at least the price is right. All the tools included here are free. If you have purchased Norton Ghost 8 or Kaspersky Antivirus 6, these tools can also be integrated into the CD build. The files you have to download are at U-B-C-D, the number 4, W-I-N dot com. The main UBCD4Win file is 184 megabytes as of June 23, 2007. You’ll either need a fast connection or a lot of patience. That isn’t all you’ll need. You need a CD burner to create the disc, but UBCD4Win can burn itself as long as you’ve got the hardware. While you’re at the website, take a look at the list of tools, its impressive.
Next up we have a couple of tools specifically for podcasters: FeedForAll and RecordForAll. Each of these can be found by visiting www.feedforall.com, where you can download free trials of each program. The terms of each program’s trial period state that they are good for 30 days, after which you must pay the license fee to continue to use them. RecordForAll will automatically add an audio watermark to your recording sessions if they are a minute or more. If the recording is less than a minute, it may or may not add the watermark. It has a tutorial that plays each time you start the program. After your trial period, you shouldn’t need it, but I suggest you watch it all the way through at least once. Unlike the Audacity software I am using to create this podcast, RecordForAll has transitions and sound effects built-in. These effects are inserted into the timeline and make it relatively easy for someone just getting started in podcasting to sound rather professional. It occasionally crashes but I like it anyway. Now, I can do anything in Audacity that I can do in RecordForAll, and Audacity is open source, free, and has tons of plug-in effects and filters to use in all your audio projects. But RecordForAll’s ease of use is amazing considering how little work it takes to get nice results. In fact, the promotional spot you heard at the beginning of this podcast was recorded with RecordForAll. The voice recordings RecordForAll makes are stereo recordings, whereas Audacity’s are mono. Mono leads to a smaller final file size without sacrificing the quality of the recording. The volume controls don’t take long to get used to and you can use them to make clips fade in, fade out, or be louder in some places, softer in others. You can also adjust the overall volume of any given track. This way if you use background music, you can reduce the overall volume of the track and set volume control points to control the relative volume of the music as needed. The results of all your labors can be saved as either WAV or MP3 files. You can also save projects. This application is really cool.
Once you have your podcast ready to post, and you know where you’ll post it, how do you make it available to iTunes or others? You do this through something called a feed. This “feed” lets your consumer’s podcatching client find and download your wares. (that’s wares with an “s”, not a “z”) FeedForAll creates the XML code that must be uploaded to publish your podcast. What’s more, it can also upload the files required to make the feed work, including both images and mp3 files. One reason I haven’t put out more podcasts than I have is simply the trouble of managing my feed file. You can manage a feed with Notepad, but you have to know XML to do it. I don’t. I got started by copying a simple feed from “The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting” and have been modifying it ever since. FeedForAll has a tabbed interface that lets you specify everything necessary for the feed itself, the items in the feed, and an optional image you can include for the feed. The image editor isn’t full-featured, but if your image is already drawn, it can make sure it’s the right dimensions, rotate, flip, or crop the image so that it’s ready to go. Both these programs are sold on their website in a podcaster’s bundle for $69.95 and includes access to a scripts area that adds additional capabilities to the software. The programs are also available separately for $39.95 each, so the bundle saves you $10. But then again, if you only need one program, buying it alone saves you $30.
I hope this has been helpful, especially if you are just getting into podcasting. If you have questions or comments about this or any other podcast, don’t hesitate to email us at feedback@daconsult.com. I’m David Anderson, Thanks for listening.
Other Links: RecordForAll |
|
Podcast #7 – Some Useful Tools
