Huw: Can you explain what Loudblog is, exactly? I mean, how is it different from a standard Blog system such as WordPress?
Gerrit van Aaken: Loudblog is a lightweight Content Management System with a straight focus on the publication of audio and video files. Users have to install it on their own web space, so it’s not a public web service. Although it might be used as a regular blogging tool like Textpattern or WordPress, it only offers a quarter of their functionality. Loudblog is for Podcasting, not for Blogging!
Huw: If I were to use Loudblog to create a podcast, how would I add sound files and make sure they were syndicated?
Gerrit van Aaken: Loudblog offers you four different ways of adding media files into the system: You can upload it via your web browser, use a built-in FTP client, copy the files from somewhere on the web or just link to an external location. Once the files are added to the Loudblog database, the system automatically generates a skinnable blog website and a valid RSS feed for iTunes and other podcatchers.
Huw: I hear a lot about the importance of supporting ’enclosures’ in RSS feeds. In simple terms, what are enclosures and why don’t all Blog and CMS packages support them?
Gerrit van Aaken: Well, enclosures are not a magical thing at all! They are just like hyperlinks to a file somewhere on the web. Those links appear within an XML-Feed (RSS or Atom) and add multimedia goodness to a blog post or any other content that gets syndicated through feeds. It’s not a big thing to implement enclosures into a CMS, but in most cases you’ll still need a plugin to enhance your CMS. God knows why 
Huw: Some general-purpose CMS and Blog systems do offer podcasting - for example, Drupal and WordPress. What does Loudblog provide that they don’t?
Gerrit van Aaken: Loudblog is small and sexy! If you see yourself as a podcast producer, you don’t need to install a huge and complicated CMS like Drupal. WordPress comes with a pretty nice plugin for Podcasting which is called PodPress. But Loudblog makes it terribly easy, because it can’t do anything instead of improving your podcasting workflow.
Huw: Many people just create their podcasts by subscribing to a service such as Feedburner. Is there any advantage to having the built-in support provided by Loudblog?
Gerrit van Aaken: Of course there is! As always, you start with the media file on your computer. Loudblog handles the uploading process, then it helps you with adding ID3 tags to it. If you want to, Loudblog renames your files in a useful way. You can look at some basic download statistics of your files. Your visitors can upload audio comments which are automatically added to the Podcasting feed. Plus you have a good-looking interface which is fun to use!
Don’t get me wrong: Feedburner is perfectly okay if you have a regular blog and want to add some multimedia from time to time, but Loudblog might be the better choice for pure Podcast producers.
Huw: Do you make your own podcasts? If so, have you any tips to help a novice get started?
Gerrit van Aaken: I started publishing a podcast in January 2005 but recently I’ve been running into serious time problems, so there isn’t much movement at the moment. Anyway, I listen to podcasts a lot and in my view there are four things that every beginner should do:
Don’t spend a lot of money on equipment at the beginning!
Have an entertaining idea!
Be yourself!
Remember that, while it can be a business, podcasting always should be fun!
Huw: What are the qualities of a good podcast? And what things do people ’get wrong’ - which lead them to make bad podcasts?
Gerrit van Aaken: Most Podcasting-rookies make the mistake of being to lengthy with their presentations. If the show is over, just say "see you next time!" and don’t talk another three minutes just because you think it might smooth the flow a little bit. Keep it short and smart!
Generally speaking, a good podcast is a show that the producer would like to listen to himself. If I wouldn’t love it, I shouldn’t host or produce it!
Huw: Do you listen to other people’s podcasts? If so, have you any favourites? Can you give me an example of a good podcast running in Loudblog?
Gerrit van Aaken: I listen to a lot of German-speaking podcast shows, some of the most popular ones like "Wanhoffs Wunderbare Welt der Wissenschaft" is published via Loudblog. There are also a lot of religious podcasts in the US that use Loudblog as their god-send CMS.
Personally I really like conference podcasts from web design events all over the world, like Carson Summit or @media.
Huw: Over the past few years we’ve seen the rise of Blogs and now of podcasts. What will be ’the next big thing’?
Gerrit van Aaken: Can’t tell you yet, still confidential 
Seriously: The next big thing will be access to all kinds of media over wireless gadgets like smartphones, blackberries, iPods and so on. I will be able to read and watch everything wherever I am, without having to sync those gadgets with my Mac or PC. And it will be quick and cheap. Hopefully.
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Gerrit van Aaken was born in 1979 in Mönchengladbach/Germany. He has now been designing web sites for ten years. Before he got employed at a small design agency last year, he studied media design at the university of applied sciences in Mainz. His diploma was the creation of a web-based content management system for podcasting.
http://www.loudblog.de |
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