How to Podcast Your Lectures

Dear Colleagues,

I've looked into options for recording and podcasting lectures in the event of a strike, and have tested a method that, so far, seems to work. At this point, only six people have written to me indicating that they are interested in podcasting, but I figured it would be worth letting everyone know what is involved. It's actually not all that hard, but it does help to have some sense of what you're doing before you're running up against a deadline.

A brief refresher: the idea here is that people who have large lecture courses and no alternative venues can record their lectures at home or in their office and post them to Blackboard to be downloaded by students. The lectures are in MP3 format, and can be listened to on any portable digital music player, desktop computer, or laptop computer.

Since there does not seem to be large faculty demand for podcasting, I am happy to help interested lecturers on a case by case basis. If the numbers should change, I may be coming back to the list and asking for help.

Working backwards a bit, if you have any means at all of making a digital voice recording and transferring the file to your desktop, the file can mostl likely be converted to MP3 format by iTunes (available for free for both the Macintosh and Windows at www.apple.com). I'll explain this at the end of this memo, but what I mean is that if your computer has a built-in microphone and recording software, you can probably do without any other device.

For most people, the simplest solution for recording lectures involves iPods. Nearly all of the six people who wrote to me indicated that they had an iPod. I could lend mine out, but that is probably not such a good idea, since I'll need it as a demonstration tool. If there are any of you who would be willing to lend your iPod for the cause, please let me know off-list.

What kind of iPod do you need? It turns out that the oldest iPods will not work with the voice recording devices that are most readily available. This means that you need an iPod with a dock connector. Basically, if you bought an iPod in the last couple of years, it will probably work for these purposes. Again, if you have questions, please feel free to ask me.

Voice recorder. The NYU Computer store sells two different Voice recorder attachments for the iPod. As of today, only one of them (made by Belkin) is in stock, but they restock them every week. I tested the Belkin, which costs $39.95. I believe the Griffin is $5 cheaper, but slightly bulkier (the Belkin) is about 2 inches by 1 inch by 1/2 inch, and weighs next to nothing). These devices are also available at the Apple Store in Soho, and, I assume, at many other electronic stores. Hundreds of venders sell them on-line, but you might not want to wait that long.

How to make a recording. The Belkin (and, I assume, other recorders) comes with minimal, but comprehensible, instructions. Once you insert the recorder in the earphones port, select "Extras" from the iPod menu. Then select "Voice Memos" and "Record." The microphone is on the very top of the Belkin, and I found that it is best to hold it about ten inches from your face in order to avoid feedback. Obviously, you need to do a few test memos. You can actually play back the memos on the iPod without headphones, but the best test of the quality is through headphones or on a computer.

Transferring the recording to your computer. Connect the iPod to your computer. If you already have iTunes installed, it should probably open up automatically and ask you if you want to move the new voice memos from your iPod to your iTunes Library (to which you should agree). Now you can listen to the memo on your computer, and also give it a more user-friend name (the memo is usually given a file name that simply consists of the date and time).

Converting the memo to MP3 format. The iPod records in the .wav format, which results in overly large files, so MP3 is preferable. Go to the "Preferences" tab in iTunes. Select "Advanced," and then "Importing." If the encoding format indicated is not "MP3," select "MP3" from the popup menu. Close Preferences.

Select the memo you wish to convert in your iTunes library. Go to the "Advanced" menu and choose "Convert Selection to MP3." A new copy of the same memo, with the same name, is now part of your iTunes folder. On a Macintosh, you can find this file by going to "Music" in your home (user's) folder, and then going to "iTunes Library" in your "Music" folder. I would hope it's in a similar location on Windows, but I'm not sure.

Uploading the file to Blackboard. ITS claims that there is no limit to the amount of disk space you can take up on Blackboard. As a test, I uploaded "All Apologies" by Nirvana, a 36 megabyte file. Granted the song is only 31 minutes long, but I suspect a lecture takes up less storage per minute than grunge.

To upload a file in Blackboard, choose "Control Panel," then "Course Documents." Click on "Add' and follow the on-screen instructions from there.

The file is now available to all registered students for downloading.

Recording your lecture without an iPod. If you have used your computer's built-in or external microphone, then the file is somewhere on your computer. If you use a digital recorder, do whatever you usually do to copy a file from your recorder to your computer.

If you do not have iTunes, download it from www.apple.com. Select "import" from the iTunes menu, and import the song. Then follow the instructions above to convert to MP3. The file you have made is probably a .wav file, which can be easily converted.

Final random recommendations: Obviously, the best thing to do is to go through the process I've outlined above long before you actually are recording a lecture. Record a one-minute memo and use it to try out the whole process.

If you have a 75 minute lecture, there is no reason why you cannot record it as one large file, at least theoretically. But if I were recording one of these lectures for the first time (and I'm not, since I don't have a large class this semester), I would probably record my lecture in smaller installments just to be on the safe side.

And if all these directions make your head spin, you can come see me and I can walk you through it.

Good luck,

Eliot Borenstein