Instant Podcasts

Instant Content; Converting a Text Article to a Podcast

We are taught to recycle paper, cans, bottles and plastic
but marketers rarely discuss the value of repackaging and
repurposing content. Publishers and marketers alike have
embraced content syndication and RSS but few have considered
the value beyond the actual syndication. Consider an
alternative communication channel that reaches a new or
different audience.

Repurposing and repackaging content or information so that
it can be consumed through a variety of mediums is not a new
concept. Many businesses today sight increased communication
as a common goal. Cost conscious businesses with tight
budges are often interested in minimizing work loads and
cost, while increasing communication. By presenting the same
information in different ways and formats, businesses are
able to increase the reach and communication, while
remaining cost conscious.

Businesses quickly found that power point presentations
could be converted into technical articles, or forum posts
could be ported to become a basis for a list of frequently
asked questions. Along a similar vein webmasters have
located a new advent in repurposed content is reusing text
articles by converting them into audio podcasts.

The process is surprisingly simple, I personally found the
prospect of reading the articles aloud and recording them,
both intimidating and time consuming, hence I opted for a
simplified approach. I found that by using two simple
software applications, I was able to create a podcast in
minutes.

The first obstacle, the creation of the audio file was
conquered using NextUp's TextAloud program. I simply pasted
in the text of an article selected a "voice" and saved the
file as an MP3 file. In under a minute I had an audio file
containing the article.

After I had the MP3 file saved, I used FeedForAll's tutorial
to create a podcast. The step by step tutorial (
http://www.feedforall.com/podcasting-tutorial.htm )laid out
12 simple steps to constructing a podcast.
I found the quality of the constructed podcasts, using
synthesized speech to text, surprisingly good.

Check out the following samples:
RSS Podcast -
http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-podcast.xml
Software Marketing Podcast
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/smr-podcast.xml

An evaluation version of TextAloud can be found at:
http://www.textaloud.com and an evaluation version of
FeedForAll can be found at http://www.feedforall.com
Experiment by repurposing and repacking existing content
save time and money while increasing communication,
distribution and exposure.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll
http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing,
publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon
manages marketing for FeedForDev http://www.feedfordev.com
an RSS component for developers.