Questions
- What is Podcasting?
- What is RoboCaster?
- What are some examples of how newspapers or magazines are using RoboCaster?
- How much does RoboCaster cost?
- Is there a limit to the number of articles that a publisher may convert to Podcasts using RoboCaster?
- Is there a limit to the number of times my readers may download the Podcasts?
- Who hosts the MP3 Podcast files?
- Will I need to plan for additional capacity in my web server infrastructure to have this Podcasting feature?
- How difficult is it to implement? How do I integrate it into my Web site?
- Can people get the Podcasts delivered to them automatically?
Answers
- What is Podcasting? top
- What is RoboCaster? top
- What are some examples of how newspapers or magazines are using RoboCaster? top
- How much does RoboCaster cost? top
- Is there a limit to the number of articles that a publisher may convert to Podcasts using RoboCaster? top
- Is there a limit to the number of times my readers may download the Podcasts? top
- Who hosts the MP3 Podcast files? top
- Will I need to plan for additional capacity in my web server infrastructure to have this Podcasting feature top
- How difficult is it to implement? How do I integrate it into my Web site? top
- Can people get the Podcasts delivered to them automatically? top
Podcasting is the distribution of audio files, such as radio programs or other spoken word content, over the internet using RSS (real simple syndication) to iPods or other MP3 players. The term Podcast, like radio, can mean both the content and the method of delivery. Web sites offering direct download of audio files have been around for a long time; what distinguishes a Podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming is the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content. In the case of Podcast News Service, an individual Podcast, or MP3 file, is created for each article of a newspaper, magazine or blog and they can be downloaded individually or by subscription; for example, to the business section of your local news paper. This would mean you would get all the Podcasts (or articles in this case) of the articles of the business section of the newspaper.
RoboCaster is an online application created by the Podcast News Service that allows newspapers and magazines to turn all the articles on their Web sites into Podcasts. RoboCaster is not an application that publishers need to buy, install, configure, or manage; but rather a software-as-a-service application that needs minimal work from the IT department in order to deploy. This can usually be done in a day or two, that is it!
Newspapers, magazines and blogs use RoboCaster to automatically convert the articles
they publish on their Web sites into Podcasts. By adding a “Podcast this article”
link next to the usual “Print article” and “Email article” links, readers discover
that they can download a Podcast. A 
button is usually
also inserted adjacent to headlines
so that readers can get the Podcast right after browsing the headlines. Readers can download
individual Podcasts or get a feed of an entire section of the newspaper or magazine. For example,
some newspapers make it possible for people to subscribe to a feed of all the Podcasts of the
business section of the newspaper.
RoboCaster is free to publishers and free to readers/listeners. Small (10 seconds or less) ads are inserted into the Podcasts in order to make them into a profit center, not a cost center. Podcast News Service sells these ads and shares the revenue with publishers. Podcast News Service uses its expertise in Podcasting technologies, its purposely built infrastructure and its expertise in Podcast marketing to do all the heavy lifting. Publishers license their content to Podcast News Service and receive a monthly payment for it.
No. We can convert an entire newspaper, magazine or blog and do it almost in real time as it is published to the web. Podcasts of your articles are ready for download by your readers shortly after you publish the articles in your web site.
No. Podcast News Service places no limit on how many times any article may be downloaded.
We do. This means that there is no impact to the capacity planning for your web site. Since we host the MP3 files, there will be no additional bandwidth requirements from your web infrastructure. However, as far as your readers are concerned, all the content will look as if it is coming from you.
See the above answer. We hosts the MP3 files of the Podcasts so there will be no additional download traffic, and therefore bandwidth or servers needed for you web site.
It is very simple. All a web site needs to do is send us hyperlink with the serial number (or path) of your article whenever anybody clicks on the “Podcast this article” button. THAT IS IT! We independently monitor your Web site and whenever you post new articles, we convert them into Podcasts. All a publisher needs to do is send us a hyperlink whenever someone clicks on a Podcast button (much the same as what happens when someone clicks on a banner ad).
Yes. It is possible for your readers to subscribe to the Podcasts of a particular section of the paper, for example, and get them all automatically delivered to their computer and their iPod. Web sites usually place links in each section allowing people to subscribe to the feed of all the articles of that section. For example, you can click on the subscribe button in the business section of the newspaper’s Web site, and get all the business articles in your iPod every day.