Free Premium quality WordPress Podcasting Plugin

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As another way to go grow and offer different types of media to keep your blog going. Podcasting is a definite way to add more dynamic content, and now you can with the free, premium quality WordPress Podcasting Plugin.

The project was initially developed by Ronald Heft over at  but it is now maintained by TSG. I think that there are currently two really good and free choices when it comes to adding multi-media content to your site, with the TSG podcasting plugin being one and the Blubrry Powerpress Podcast Plugin. Unfortunately it seems that the old podpress plugin that used to be an option isnt really going to be going any further.

Features

1. iTunes Support

If you are an artist or anyone who has a syndicated feed that you wanted to sell on iTunes then this is the plugin for you. It adds in a dedicated feed with the ability to have your podcasts available on iTunes with the addition of the RSS tags. In the case that you will also have a new post, video or show you also have the ability to ping iTunes and let them know yo have something new or updated.

Podcasting mp3 player - podcastingplugin.com

2. Additional Video Support

Occasionally you may need to also have a video post syndicated from your site in addition to the audio podcast you have going. Luckily the TSG Podcasting plugin will also allow you to upload your own video and then have it posted just like it was a regular post. I have not fully tested it out but it could also be possible to add in some of your own ads, from any networks or programs you are affiliated with and have add a simple and easy revenue stream to your site.

Podcasting video support - podcastingplugin.com

3. Multiple Format Feeds

An additional useful feature is the ability to have a variety of feed formats available to get your show or song out there faster and to more people. For example, if you had both video and mp3 recordings on your blog or site, a visitor who may like your show may only want to listen to the mp3 format show, while another visitor may want be comfortable and want all the shows, no matter the format. Well now you can make this easy and convinient for both as you can provide your feeds in multiple formats with seperate urls.

So Visitor A may grab all the mp3 feeds from:

mypodcastsite.com/?feed=podcast&format=mp3
and Visitor B can grab all the feeds from:

mypodcastsite.com/?feed=podcast


4. Well documented and plenty of options

Sometimes the hardest part is not finding the right plugin for the job, its getting it installed and doing what you need it to do with NO hacking. I think once you start hacking at the core you are about to have some problems, especially if there are any updates which would wipe away any changes you may have made to the core.

Fortunately TSG made sure that you could configure the audio player with lots of options and it does not require a PHD. Some of the available options are:

  • Auto-start player
  • Loop or single play
  • Animation
  • Time remaining or time elapsed
  • Disable track information
  • Set the initial volume of the player
  • Buffering time for slower connection
  • Player encoding type such as mp3
  • Check policy for flash in case you have your id3 tags you want read from somewhere else
  • Width of the player
  • Transparent background
  • Background color

Audio player options - podcastingplugin.com

Conclusion

It is always nice to see a plugin that is easy to use, has a lot of options, user-friendly, extensible and light. I think that the ability to customize the various media players is definite plus, as well we iTunes support, and the ability to add a bit more revenue to your site, or get your music out there.

With premium quality for free, and stable feature i think that even i will start to use the TSG WordPress podcasting plugin and see how it works, but in the end an alternative solution if you are trying to get heard.

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