(1)--- Forwarded Message from "Margo Burns" <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:20:24 -0400
>Subject: Re: [BULK] #8204 mp3 vs podcast
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
<[log in to unmask]>
>From: "Margo Burns" <[log in to unmask]>
>References: <[log in to unmask]>
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Can anyone tell me in what ways a podcast is superior to mounting mp3
>files on a course webpage?
It's simply a different way to distribute digital audio, rather than
necessarily "superior."
A webpage with embedded MP3s is good if you have all your audio files
prepared ahead of time and you plan to use it every term, such as all the
companion audio materials for a textbook. (French in Action comes to
mind...) It becomes a fixed resource. Listeners can also view text and
images on the computer at the same time that they are listening to the
MP3s from the webpage. It is possible for a listener to save these MP3s
to their own hard drive and transfer them to a portable MP3 device, but
that usually requires multiple manual steps, so these pages aren't by
default as flexible for where a listener can access them, but this is an
excellent way to provide a lot of concurrent support content with other
media.
A podcast is good if you are adding audio content on a rolling basis,
because you don't have all your audio set up ahead of time -- because you
are still working on putting together a set for the first time, or because
the delivery of the audio needs to be delivered piecemeal, for whatever
reason -- either because the content cannot be created ahead of time, or
because the instructor wants to parcel it out over time rather than put
everything out all at once. Podcast feeds can be set up to automatically
download the MP3s directly into iTunes or another podcast management
application, making it easy to both listen to the content on a computer
and to transfer the audio files onto portable MP3 devices. Podcasts also
can be "enhanced" -- AAC files -- with bookmarks and images that can be
viewed on certain iPod models, and there are even video podcasts, designed
to be viewed away from the computer. The key is the flexibility for the
listeners as far as where they will listen to the audio is much greater
because they are by definition, not tied to a whole computer.
Cheers,
Margo
Margo Burns, Technology Integration Specialist
Greater Manchester Professional Development Center
Room B109 at MST
http://www.gmpdc.org
530 South Porter St., Manchester, NH 03103
(603) 628-6144
Office: E121 at MST
[log in to unmask]
http://fcmail.mansd.org/~Margo_Burns
(2)----- from [log in to unmask]
The biggest advantage is the viewer is fed the content as oppose having
to remember to double check if there is any new content to download.
This is the basic difference of podcasting and downloading mp3 files.
Someone else may bring the issue of visual/audio quality.
Jason Vance, Supervisor
Language Learning Center
Thomas Nelson Community College
PO BOX 9407
Hampton, Virginia 23670
757-825-2819(Office)
757-825-3807(fax)
(3)---- from [log in to unmask]
If done correctly, using an RSS feed and enclosures, it automates the
process for your students. The audio files can be downloaded automatically
into their podcatcher application (like iTunes) or directory to their
devices. No need for them to manually download and copy them over. They're
titled and ordered the way you post them.
Keola
=======================================================================
Keola Donaghy
Assistant Professor of Hawaiian Studies
Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikolani [log in to unmask]
University of Hawai'i at Hilo http://www2.hawaii.edu/~donaghy/
"Tir gan teanga, tir gan anam." (Irish Gaelic saying)
A country without its language is a country without its soul.
=======================================================================
(4)--- from [log in to unmask]
If you produced those files once only and not planning to change them,
mp3s on the webpage are just fine.
However, if you periodically add new MP3 and they are all related to
each other (same course, etc), podcast is a good way to go. Podcast
allows people to _not_ have to check your webpage every so often just
to see what you have and then have to download the files, add them to
the player, etc. Instead, they subscribe to the podcast and everything
else is streamlined by the available tools.
These are immediate benefits. There are also longer range advantages,
such as registering your podcast with voice search engines such as
http://www.podzinger.com/
And even if you produced the files once, but you expect the users to
download all of them anyway, putting them into podcast allows users to
get them all with single click instead of 4 clicks per file and
constant attention during the download.
Regards,
Alex.
(5)--- from [log in to unmask]
The main advantage to a podcast is that users can subscribe to it so that
when files are added, they will automatically be downloaded to the user's
podcast application (e.g., iTunes), without the user's having to go back and
check the Web page for updates.
However, I think there are many instances in which the automation podcasting
affords is not particularly advantageous because you may want students to go
to the course Web site for other reasons anyway. Podcasting is all the rage
these days, but it's not necessarily the best tool for every situation. In
some cases, for example, streaming is preferable (to either podcasting or
allowing mp3 downloads) because podcasting/downloading amounts to
distributing an intact copy of the digital file, which can then be
redistributed ad infinitum. Not that it's impossible to capture streams to
disk using various hack applications available on the Web, but at least
streaming puports to curtail redistribution.
Thomas Hammond
Harvard Univ
Cambridge, MA
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