Photo by Daniel J. Lewis

Photo by Daniel J. Lewis

Five updates to podcasting tools that you should know about, and how to take advantage of them.

  1. PowerPress 5.0
  2. LibSyn Four
  3. WordPress 3.6
  4. Audacity 2.0.4
  5. Social Subscribe & Follow Icons 1.1

PowerPress 5.0

This latest update to the best podcasting plugin for WordPress brings features for beginners and advanced podcasters.

Easier setup for beginners

Simplified Mode makes the setup process easy by breaking it down into steps: Fill out podcast settings, create a blog post with an episode, submit the feed to iTunes.

powerpress 5 simplified mode

This simple interface presents you with the most important options.

  1. Program title
  2. iTunes Program Subtitle
  3. iTunes Program Summary
  4. iTunes Category
  5. iTunes Explicit
  6. iTunes Email
  7. iTunes Image
  8. Display Media & Links
    1. Below page content
    2. Above page content
    3. Disable
    4. Display media/links in WordPress excerpts
  9. Template compatibility mode

New features for advanced podcasters

Most of PowerPress 5.0's Advanced Mode will seem familiar to current podcasters. But there are several great additions.

  • Change podcast title without activating custom channels!
  • Enable Feed Episode Maximizer without activating custom channels!
  • New artwork tab for all podcast cover art versions.
  • Support for episode images
  • Taxonomy Podcasting
  • Post Type Podcasting
  • MediaElement.js player

What is “taxonomy”?

“Taxonomy” is how WordPress organizes content. This is a higher level than post types (such as pages, posts, and custom). Taxonomy can include menus, post formats, tags, keywords, and more.

Taxonomy and Post-Type podcasting a huge features for large websites and other clever purposes. A custom post type would allow you to run one or multiple podcasts from your site without the need of putting those episodes in your blog feed.

This also makes it easy for listing the latest episodes from a particular post type or taxonomy.

LibSyn Four

For media hosting, I highly recommend LibSyn (get a free month with promo code “noodle”), and they're updating their system!

libsyn four preview

You may have already seen LibSyn's new website design. That's coming to the customer interface, too. The design looks great and everything is now a lot easier to find and understand, thanks to the visual changes.

LibSyn Four will even work well on mobile devices when it launches.

WordPress 3.6

WordPress recently updated to version 3.6. I haven't noticed any compatibility issues with 3.6, but it does present some cool new features.

  • Easier revisions management
  • Easier menu editor
  • Native HTML5 audio- and video-players
  • Improved integrations with Spotify, Rdio, and SoundCloud

Audacity 2.0.4

Audacity 2.0.4 replaces all previous versions, with these improvements:

See the 2.0.4 Release Notes for more items and details.

The biggest feature in Audacity 2.0.4 is the new ability to easily record your computer's playback!

Social Subscribe & Follow Icons 1.1

social subscribe and follow icons cover imageLastly, I just pushed out an update to my Social Subscribe & Follow Icons plugin for WordPress. Version 1.1 brings the following updates.

  • Switched to standards-friendly display system, which fixes double characters in RSS readers (like “!iTunes” and “FFacebook”).
  • Dropped support for Internet Explorer 8.
  • Improved backend accessibility.
  • Added new networks: TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Blip, StumbleUpon, Instagram, Dribbble, GoodReads, Etsy, and GitHub.
  • Reordered icons into podcast, video, social network, photo, specialty.
  • Changed LinkedIn icon to match the other icons better.
  • Sortable icons are coming soon! You may notice that you can drag and drop networks, but this doesn't save yet.

Social Subscribe & Follow Icons is a great way to turn any standard website into an awesome blog or podcast website that encourages your visitors to connect with you.

Bonus: new Noodle.mx Network podcast themes

Things may not look very different on the Noodle.mx Network podcast sites (except for Beyond the To-Do List and Under the Dome Radio). But each site is now running the latest Genesis Framework and I took this opportunity to optimize my workflow with Sass and Compass. This allowed me to quickly push out redesigns for each site.

The main update you'll notice is that every Noodle.mx Network podcast site is now mobile-friendly, even our bbPress forums for the Once Upon a Time podcast!

Need personalized podcasting help?

I no longer offer one-on-one consulting outside of Podcasters' Society, but request a consultant here and I'll connect you with someone I trust to help you launch or improve your podcast.

Ask your questions or share your feedback

  • Comment on the shownotes
  • Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
  • Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Connect with me

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship and may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

About the Author
As an award-winning podcaster, Daniel J. Lewis gives you the guts and teaches you the tools to launch and improve your own podcasts for sharing your passions and finding success. Daniel creates resources for podcasters, such as the SEO for Podcasters and Zoom H6 for Podcasters courses, the Social Subscribe & Follow Icons plugin for WordPress, the My Podcast Reviews global-review aggregator, and the Podcasters' Society membership for podcasters. As a recognized authority and influencer in the podcasting industry, Daniel speaks on podcasting and hosts his own podcast about how to podcast. Daniel's other podcasts, a clean-comedy podcast, and the #1 unofficial podcast for ABC's hit drama Once Upon a Time, have also been nominated for multiple awards. Daniel and his son live near Cincinnati.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

15 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ileane
10 years ago

Hi Daniel! Congrats or updating your plugin. I’m glad to see that it’s doing so well for you. I have a question about it. What color are the icons? I notice that your’s are black but in the image in this post they are brown.

I’m still a little confused by the new Libsyn interface. I see the destinations listed over on the left and then they are listed again on the box in the middle of the screen. What’s the difference?

Thanks for all the updates on the updates 🙂

Ileane
10 years ago

Thanks for the response Daniel.

Heading over to purchase the plugin now and I’ll be sure to send you some feedback on it soon too.

I have Rob’s email so I’ll get in touch.

Edomaniac
Edomaniac
10 years ago

I’m curious about this WASAPI thing but I don’t understand how it works. Can you listen to the audio and record it at the same time? If I’m using an ATR-2100, can I use that for audio (to headphones) and also to the computer for recording.

Edomaniac
Edomaniac
10 years ago

I might not have written the question clearly enough. Let me try again because I don’t know if your answer quite addresses it:

So if I’m on skype, this will allow me to record my own voice on the mic, the audio I hear (other people’s voices) from the computer AND still hear them on the headphones?

Edomaniac
Edomaniac
10 years ago

Word. That’s what I wanted to hear. Yeah, I was messing around with it last night but didn’t want to do anything too crazy until I tested it out thoroughly. I’ve been thinking about a mixer for a while now but haven’t pulled the trigger. I might go with an audio recorder for my own audio and use audacity for the other audio then sync the two in audacity in post. Or maybe I’ll use the virtual audio cable. Thanks for the clarification!

Virtual Pizza
Virtual Pizza
10 years ago

Hi Daniel, if I’ve already started a podcast (10 eps in) using Podbean, will using Powerpress republish my site to iTunes? I.e. is Powerpress only for use if your about to start a show, or can you use it for existing?

Thanks, keep up the good work!
Phil

Virtual Pizza
Virtual Pizza
10 years ago
Reply to  Virtual Pizza

Ah, think I’ve found the answer to my own question! You explain it very well in the show notes for episode 72 ‘How to Use PowerPress to Setup Your WordPress Blog for Podcasting’. Basically, yes you can use an existing feed!

That’ll teach me to search first, ask questions later!

Virtual Pizza
Virtual Pizza
10 years ago

Ah, yes, many thanks, it does clarify it thank you.

John Poelstra
John Poelstra
10 years ago

Be very careful with Audacity 2.0.4 on Mac. It’s known to crash importing media–there are several threads in the Audacity forums. Running 2.0.4 I started a new project, imported an mp3 and it immediately crashed. Using TimeMachine I quickly reverted back to 2.0.3. I’m going to stay there until there are better reports on the forums.

trackback

[…] Episode 152 of The Audacity to Podcast which mentions Libsyn4 plus other awesome podcasting tools […]

15
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x
50%
5/5

Enter your name and email address below to learn “7 Ways to Get More Podcast Reviews” FREE!

Almost there!

50%

See what Apple Podcasts and other popular podcast apps search with the Podcast SEO Cheat Sheet!

This form collects information we will use to send you podcasting-related updates with tips, offers, and news. We will not share or sell your personal information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Almost there!

50%

Before you go! Don’t miss this FREE checklist, “20 things you should do before recording every podcast episode”!

This form collects information we will use to send you podcasting-related updates with tips, offers, and news. We will not share or sell your personal information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Almost there!