Curating content online can be significantly easier with the right process and tools. My favorite tool for content curation is Google Reader. Google Reader is a free service that allows you to aggregate RSS feeds from various sources across the web.

This podcast was recorded and published using Mobile Podcaster. Mobile Podcaster is an iPhone application that lets you record podcast episodes and automatically publish new blog posts to your WordPress site.

We all like to share pictures with our iPhones and send them to people for a number of different reasons. Some folks like to send pictures of their kids to their parents and lots of us at work use our camera every day to document things we see around us.

Mobile Podcaster is great for podcasting, but it’s also a great tool for snapping a picture and attaching some audio that you can then email to someone. A picture is worth 1,000 words but sometimes a little more description is not only helpful but fun as well.

This podcast was recorded and published using Mobile Podcaster. Mobile Podcaster is an iPhone application that lets you record podcast episodes and automatically publish new blog posts to your WordPress site.

Mobile Podcaster lets you record and publish podcast episodes from your iPad directly to WordPress and/or FTP, such as Libsyn. This is a huge time saver not only for the novice podcaster, but the experience folks out there as well.

To get started, install Mobile Podcaster from the iTunes Store. When you first open the app, go to the settings tab and fill out the form for a new WordPress site to add your site to Mobile Podcaster. Be sure to activate XML-RPC upload capability on your blog.

Now, go ahead and record your podcast. You can hit Pause if you need to. Feel free to record for as long as you like. When you’re done, click on the little blue arrow to the right of the new recording. Give it a name & description and decide on the publishing status. You should also select an embed code, such as that required to play your audio using the PowerPress plugin.

When you are done filling out the settings for this particular episode, select the share icon in the upper-right hand corner. Select WordPress, then choose your site and hit the Upload button.

Your recording and blog post will now appear on your website. Here’s a video walking you through the process …

One great feature of Mobile Podcaster is the ability to assign a category or multiple categories when posting your podcast to WordPress. Those of your that have been blogging on WordPress for a while know, categories are a great way to organize your content. When it comes to podcasting there is an additional benefit.

You see, with the Blubrry PowerPress plugin you have the ability to create multiple podcast feeds based on categories. Most podcasting plugins don’t have this capability and therefore any audio that is uploaded gets grouped in with the general pool of podcast episodes and sent to iTunes.

To add a category to your podcast episode in Mobile Podcaster, just select the categories screen from either the Default Settings or the Recording Details screen. Check off the Categories you want to tag your episode with and you’re good to go. If you choose to upload your recording to WordPress, your new blog post will be put in that category, assuming that the category selected already exists on your WordPress site.

Here’s how I use categories on this site

I have three major categories on this site: blog, podcast and pictures.

• Blog – this category for regular blog posts (like this post). They may contain text, pictures, videos and audio, but I don’t want them sent to iTunes as part of my podcast. They are usually tutorials on a given subject and part of the general reading that makes up my site.
• Podcast – this category is strictly for audio posts that I want to send to iTunes. The feed for this category is what I submitted to iTunes and if I post any audio in posts in this category, they show up in iTunes automatically within about 30 minutes.
• Pictures – this category is a fun place for me to take pictures and attach audio describing what you see. I mostly talk about products in this category.

You could setup any and as many categories as you want in Mobile Podcaster – these are just mine. One caveat, you must setup the category in WordPress first if you want new podcast episodes you upload to get properly tagged with the right category. If the category does not exist in WordPress when you create your new post, your post will not include that category.

To setup category recognition in PowerPress, check off Category Podcasting in the Advanced Settings within the PowerPress settings tab.

Uploading pictures and audio from your iPhone to WordPress is very simple with Mobile Podcaster. The app allows you to record audio directly from your iPhone and attach an image. You can then sync your WordPress site and upload these attachments to a new blog post.

Podcasting with Mobile Podcaster is even better now with version 1.4, which allows you to upload your podcast episodes to Libsyn via FTP. You may also upload via FTP to any other FTP accounts you have access to, but in this post we’ll specifically address Libsyn.

Why Should I Host My Podcast Recordings on Libsyn?

Uploading your podcast episodes to Libsyn is a great choice for several reasons:

• Since the audio files are hosting on Libsyn, you don’t have to worry about a surge in playback activity bogging down your server.
• Libsyn is specifically dedicated to hosting and streaming podcast audio, so you can depend on them to provide the best listening experience to your listeners.
• Libsyn is affordably priced, whereas hosting a podcast on your own web host may get very expensive rather quickly.

How Does Mobile Podcaster Upload to Libsyn Work?

With Mobile Podcaster, you may either upload your recordings to Libsyn and deal with them later, or you can choose to do an FTP / WordPress Combo and create a WordPress post that references your file on Libsyn at the same time. This is a huge timesaver and an extremely efficient way to immediately get your audio online and ready for distribution.

Every Libsyn account comes with FTP upload capability. You can read more about it on the Libsyn Help Desk.

The FTP account server address for uploading new episodes to Libsyn account is ftp://ftp-server.libsyn.com/SHOWNAME/public. The showname is the same as the show slug you chose for your show when setting up your show on Libsyn. For example, The Mobile Podcaster slug and show name is mobilepodcaster.

When you upload your recording to this FTP address, it is publicly available to reference, but does not create an actual podcast episode. Instead, you’ll want to reference it in a new blog post, such as with WordPress. The address for the new file is traffic.libsyn.com/SHOWNAME/FILENAME. For example, if I upload my-file.mp3 to the Mobile Podcaster Libsyn account, it can be referenced at traffic.libsyn.com/mobilepodcaster/my-file.mp3.

The Mobile Podcaster app takes all of this into consideration when uploading to Libsyn and/or creating your WordPress post to embed your recording hosted on Libsyn.

Steps to Upload Podcast Episode to Libsyn via FTP

To upload to Libsyn, you first need setup your FTP account in Mobile Podcaster. Go to Settings > FTP Accounts and click on the “+”  icon in the upper-right corner. You’ll need to provide:

• FTP Account Name (this is just for your own records)
• FTP Account Server Address
• FTP Account Username
• FTP Account Password
• FTP Public URL Address (required for Libsyn)

Next, proceed to record your episode on Mobile Podcaster as usual. When you are ready to publish, click on the blue arrow to the right of the episode and then click on the share icon in the top-right corner to share.

You have several options when sharing, but the two you want in this case are either Upload via FTP only or FTP / WordPress Combo.

1. Upload via FTP only

To upload your audio via FTP only, select this option. This assumes you have already setup an FTP account in the FTP Account settings section of the main Settings options. Choosing this option just uploads your recording to an FTP destination and nothing else. In our example, it will upload your file to your Libsyn account public folder.

Congratulations, your recording is now on Libsyn. To see your recording, login to your Libsyn account and browse Previous Posts. If you click to view the details of the most recent post, you’ll see the Direct Download Link, which you’re free to reference as you wish, such as in a blog post on your website.

2. FTP / WordPress Combo

To upload your audio via FTP and create a new blog post on your WordPress site at the same time, chose this option. This assumes you have already setup an FTP account in the FTP Account settings section of the main Settings options. Once you choose this option, select a WordPress site in which you would like to create your blog post. If your site is not listed, return to the main Settings page and add your site.

Next, select the FTP Account. Click Upload and wait for the progress indicator to stop. You will receive a popup confirmation that the upload was successfully completed.

Congratulations, your recording is now on Libsyn and you should see your new blog post in your WordPress dashboard referencing the recording on Libsyn.

We are pleased to announce the release of Mobile Podcaster version 1.4.

Mobile Podcaster lets you record podcast episodes from your iPhone or iPad and publish directly to WordPress.

This approach saves you significant time vs. traditional forms to podcasting because there is no need to manually edit and move audio files. Mobile Podcaster uploads the audio from your iOS device directly to your WordPress site or the FTP destination of your choice, eliminating the need to manually upload recordings and to your server and create new blog posts.

What’s New in Version 1.4

• FTP upload to publish to Libsyn and other servers
• FTP / WordPress combination publishing
• add image to podcast and embed in WordPress post
• include image in email sharing option
• headphone/mic recording and playback support

With the latest version of Mobile Podcaster I can publish my audio directly to Libsyn and reference the recording in my WordPress post. How cool is that?

This podcast was recorded and published using Mobile Podcaster. Mobile Podcaster is an iPhone application that lets you record podcast episodes and automatically publish new blog posts to your WordPress site.

Mobile Podcaster supports File Sharing, so if you have an iPod touch, iPhone with iOS 4 or later software, or an iPad, you can use iTunes to transfer files between your computer and the Mobile Podcaster app on your device.

A customer recently purchased Mobile Podcaster and sent me this question …

I have the Mobile Podcaster app on my iPad. I’ve recorded some audio that I’d like to just keep on my computer but the files are too big to email. Is there any other way to get these files from my iPad to my computer?

Yes, you can! Here are the steps:

1. Connect your iPad or iPhone to your computer
2. Open iTunes
3. Click on the Devices folder
4. Go to the Apps tab.
5. At the bottom you’ll see your recordings, which you can Save/Download

So this is really just a test of the new image upload features that will be available in version 1.4 of Mobile Podcaster.

This podcast was recorded and published using Mobile Podcaster. Mobile Podcaster is an iPhone application that lets you record podcast episodes and automatically publish new blog posts to your WordPress site.