You see, there used to be a major barrier to entry
for people wanting to broadcast audio. It was called
a 'radio station'. Yes, you had to have one. Or
be accepted as a host on one so that you could
broadcast your audio show that way. And there was
two other major problems:
- You could only broadcast to people who could
pickup the station you were on, so it was typically
limited in distance, and
- People had to switch on their radios at the
TIME that you broadcasted, otherwise they would
miss out.
But despite these challenges, for decades we built
up an industry around radio. It became big business.
People got rich and famous. Even today, its still
incredibly popular.
We think all of this is about to change though.
Podcasting is a way that you can pre-record your
show, in the comfort of your own home, and then
release it when you are good and ready. Its based
on the concept of 'time shifted' media. Its like
what Tivo did with television. By using technology
they were able to create a 'robot' that would search
for content that you told it you were interested
in, and no matter when it aired it would record
it so you could watch it later. Podcasting is similar.
There's all this technical mumbo-jumbo around
it, but the basic idea is simple. You record a
show, release it when you are ready, and the rest
of the world finds it and downloads it to hear
later. Since people these days seem to only want
to hear sound on their iPods or other portable
media players, there is a huge market to broadcast
this way now. Even major radio hosts who have had
success in broadcast media are seeing the light,
and creating Podcasts of their audio. And you can
too.
CyberEars.com is the distrbution part. Here's
a graphic to show you what we mean:
You create your show, and record it. There are
lots of different ways to do this (here
are a few). Then you upload the MP3 file that
comes from the recording to CyberEars.com and attach
it to your show. CyberEars.com does the rest for
you. We then make it available in a RSS feed, so
that anyone with iTunes or any other technology
that can grab new shows will see it and download
it. Then your listener has it on their MP3 player,
or computer, etc. and can hear it immediately.
And if all of this is just a bit too hard, we
give you the ability to have your show played directly
from CyberEars.com. So anyone who has a computer
connected to the Internet and browsing our website
can play your show right there. This means they
can sample what you have to say, and if they like
it they can click one button and subscribe using
iTunes or any other aggregator program and they
will have your shows for the future as long as
they stay subscribed.
Does all of this cost the listener anything? No.
Like radio, the broadcast is free to listen to.
Hosts can make their money from advertising inserted
in the content. Podcasting was designed to be free
as well. However we give our GOLD subscribers the
ability to distribute secured content as well through
CyberEars.com so you can offer free, Podcast content
and tell your listeners about secured content that
they can purchase a password from you to grab.
Its all up to you, but we give you the tools to
make all of this happen.
So if you are interested in trying the art of
Podcatsing, try us out as your host and distribution facility. SIGN
UP for a free trial account
with CyberEars.com and get started. You'll be glad
you did.
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