Podcast Producer 2 White Paper

In summer and fall of 2009 Emerging Technologies investigated the feasibility of leveraging Podcast Producer 2 on campus.  The results of the investigation are documented in the attached white paper.

Abstract:

Making a high quality podcast can be a labor intensive process.  Reformatting various file types and making them available on a regular basis is time consuming and tedious.  Recently, a staff member asked us how he could make his podcasting process more efficient, so Emerging Technologies turned to Podcast Producer.  Setting it up was smooth from the administrator’s point of view.  Creating new workflows was incredibly easy, within the constraints of the workflow creation wizard.  From the user’s point of view it is hard to imagine an easier interface that could still meet his or her basic needs.  However, integrating Podcast Producer into a pre-existing non-Apple environment is no small undertaking.  The potential for a simple user experience is compelling, but this must be weighed against the administrative burden.  It did not make sense for us to invest the time necessary to make Podcast Producer superior to the staff member’s existing solution.  Modest goals, like automatically updating our user’s RSS feed, proved to be difficult.  Podcast Producer does not store this kind of information in standardized formats.  This software suite works best in a homogeneous environment, where podcasts can be hosted on an Apple server.  While veteran podcasters or podcast hosts may not have much to gain from Podcast Producer, newcomers will be able to start podcasting without multiple audio and video editing programs to master.