I've just added a new article on things to consider when first Planning for your Podcast. I go over choosing a show format, basic questions to ask to help you identify your audience, and some legal issues you should know if you plan to include music.

In my new article, Microphone Technique for Podcasters, I talk about finding your microphone's "sweet spot," warming up your voice, pacing your lines, and a special technique that helps me sound like I am really talking to each person in my audience. Please feel free to check it out here.

Podcasting continues to gain acceptance and go mainstream. Urban Outfitters is jumping on the podcast bandwagon with a podcast kit, and they are definitely marketing the hip, cool angle (they don't even mention any technical specs other than Mac / Win compatible).

The microphone in the picture is an Alesis. I sure hope it's a USB microphone, because they don't mention or show an audio interface...

Podscope is a search engine that scans the audio of Podcasts, listens for keywords, and allows you to search for topics based on what is in the audio of the file. You can select snippets of audio from the results to help you decide whether the podcast is relevant, or something that you might even want to subscribe to. You can also download a search box that lets your own audience search your podcast using Podscope. Check it out here.