What will you need on your computer?

• First the hardware, you will need a current computer, say not over 4 years old. I am using an Apple MacBook Pro, but any Apple/PC computer purchased in the past 4 years should work. You will also need some type of microphone. Some computers do have built-in microphones, however, I recommend that you use an external microphone. There are many low-cost options. Again, search the Internet to find the best solution for your budget. My personal favorite is the Blue Snowball. Currently, on Amazon.com, they are retailing for $90.
• Next the software, you will need access the the Internet using any browser, whether it be Safari, Internet Explorer or Firefox. For the Apple computer, we will be using Garage Band. This is a product that comes bundled with iLife and came with your Apple computer at purchase. For the PC, you can download free software from the Internet. The software is called Audacity. It is located at audicity.sourceforge.net, or just Google Audicity. It will be the first link. Once at the Audacity, you will need to download two files: 1) the Audacity installer for your operating system and 2) LAME MP3 encoder. You will need to install both of these files to create MP3 files. Garage Band and Audacity are both great tools for recording podcast. They both work the in the same way, so by watching the demonstration in Garage Band, you will get the idea of how to use Audacity as well.
• Other software you will need are Web 2.0 tools that are free via the Internet. However, you will need to sign up for an account. These tools are:
• Google Docs (in Google Apps via a Gmail account) for writing your script and saving as a PDF
  
• Blogger (in Google Apps via a Gmail account) for publishing your podcast
  
• Gcast (www.gcast.com) as a server to park your podcast
• On to the next post on pre-production.