Getting Started with Podango Show Builder Lite

Welcome to the new Podango Show Builder Lite (PSBL) podcast/media production, publishing and advertising platform.

The PSBL platform will save you time and give you increased control over all aspects of the audio podcasts you publish.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

Thank you for setting up an account. Before we get started, a couple of requests.

Please watch the screencasts linked to in Section 1. They walk through all the steps necessary for setup and opperation.

The only additional download required is the PSBLUploader for processing and uploading your uncompressed audio files. Download links are in Section 5.

Please feel free to push, prod and experiment. If you have questions or find something, please contact us at support@podango.com.

We are always looking for any bugs, odd behavior, confusion, suggestions, insults, compliments and praise. Your comments, suggestion and assistance will help shape the future development of the Podango Show Builder Platform.

Thank you!

1. Screencasts

These screencasts give you a brief walk through for configuration and publishing of your first file. It is highly recommended you watch these first. Screen casts will be available again soon.

Screencast: Setup & Configuration
Screencast: Components, batch uploads, advertiser campaigns, script editing and assembly
Screencast: Ad Campaigns, sponsorships and promos
Screencast: The power of SmartDelivery
Screencast: How to change your hosting provider and move all your files with a few keystrokes.
Advanced Screencast: How to implement multi-body scripts.

2. Prerequisite Data

To set up the system you will need some basic information about your web-hosting service:

FTP host name such as ftp.hostingservice.com.
Login/Username
Password
FTP Directory (where you store your audio episodes)
Web URL (the public URL where the Directory can be accessed with a browser)

3. Set Up Your Web Host

These steps only need to be done once.

In the menu bar, go to Configuration > Hosting/Delivery.
Enter the data you tracked down for FTP host, login, password, directory and Web URL.
Leave SmartDelivery^TM checked. It's a good thing.
Click on "Save and Test."
Make any necessary corrections and try again until all tests are passed.
If you have any trouble with this step, please feel free to contact us.
Also, you can use the "Debug" function to send the Podango team a report that we can use to assist.

4. Configure Your Podcast

Let's setup your podcast:

In the menu bar, go to Configuration > Podcast Configuration.
Give your podcast a name.
The ID3 fields are the defaults. You can set them here and override them as necessary at the individual-episode level or via the PSBLUploader.
"PSBLUploader Options" determine which options you'll see in the PSBLUploader. Check these boxes when you're ready for component-based show assembly, the real power of Podango Show Builder Lite.
Leave "Allow Stereo" checked if you want to bypass the mono-only check for your components. Stereo components will take twice as long to upload and will require twice the storage space in the CMS, so only use stereo when you really have stereo material. It's okay to mix stereo and mono components. The output file will be stereo in all cases.
Upload your album art as either a jpeg or png file.
Save Changes.

5. Download the PSBLUploader

The PSBLUploader is the desktop client used to prepare and transmit your audio files to the system.

Mac/OS X
PC/Windows
Install as appropriate.
PSBLUploader help available via the PSBLUploader help menu or here.

6. Record, Edit and Save Your Audio

Using your standard tools, produce your program -- maybe a short one for a test -- and save it as a mono or stereo WAV or AIFF file.
Do not create an MP3; the system will do this for you.

7. Upload your Audio

Start the PSBLUploader application and enter your username and password.
Drag-and-drop you podcast's audio file(s) (WAV or AIFF) onto the PSBLUploader.
Enter the title for your podcast episode and click "Process."
Watch as your audio is normalized, encoded and uploaded to the content-management system (CMS).

8. Publish Your Podcast

In the menu bar, go to Programs > Podcast Episodes.
You should see your new episode in the list. Click on it.
Now in the Episode Editor, you can enter/edit any of the metadata fields.
Note the "body" of your episode towards the upper-right corner. If our servers have completed processing your program, you'll see a triangular Play button. Click on the button and you'll hear your body audio.
If our servers have not yet processed your program, you'll see a red light instead. You can refresh your browser or use the "Refresh Display" button to see when the processing is done.
If the body audio has been processed (the triangular Play button is to the left of "body.<number>", click on the "Publish" button. This sends a message to the show-assembly system asking it to create your MP3 file and upload it to your web-hosting service. This could take a few seconds or a few minutes, depending on the length of your program and other factors.

9. Spread the Word

That's it. Your podcast should now be available for download and listening.

Go back to Programs > Podcast Episodes and click on your new episode.
Note the SmartDelivery^TM URL for this episode.
This is the URL to post as the URL or RSS Enclosure for your program. It uses our SmartDelivery^TM service, which offers the following benefits:

Updating your content. Using the SmartDelivery^TM URL you can push updated content to your already published episodes. New ads, promos etc are all made available via SmartDelivery^TM.
Hosting-Service Independence. You can change your web host at any time without changing the public URLs for your podcasts.
Statistics. Our Redirection Service gathers statistics and will be able to generate reports containing information not available from any other source.

10. Invite Others

Know someone interested in setting up a free account? Just point them to http://cms.podango.net/ to set up their own free Podango Show Builder Lite account.

Known Issues

Libsyn basic incompatibility with SmartDelivery^TM

Please be aware that the basic Libsyn hosting plan works with Podango Show Builder Lite however it is currently incompatible with our SmartDelivery^TM service. The folks at Libsyn tell us that Libsyn Pro accounts will work.

The issue is the way Libsyn basic moves files around internally for archiving and bandwidth balancing. Basically the file is not always where you first put it in Libsyn (very non-technical description) and the Podango Show Builder Lite system can't predict where it will be moved internally at Libsyn.

We have spoken to them about this and they do report to be working it. For the time being, most people using Libsyn basic who want to take advantage of SmartDelivery^TM for advertising and updating content have used accounts at other hosting services.Podango Show Builder Lite Requires Standard FTP Access

Our system currently only works with standard FTP based hosting providers. If you have a hosting provider who requires use of specialized ingest systems such as Flash or JavaScript applets (PodShow) our system will not interact with their proprietary protocols.

Support

Questions or bug reports? Please submit them to psbl-support@podango.com.

Thanks for testing Podango Show Builder Lite.

Podango Geeks