Audacity is a free, open source digital audio editing program that can be used to create podcasts. It allows users to import and edit sound files, add special effects, and export the final audio in various formats like MP3. The program works similarly to Microsoft Word and movie editing software. It can be downloaded for free from the Audacity website and used on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. Additional plugins may need to be installed, like LAME, to enable MP3 exporting.

1. Podcasting with Audacity What is it? How does it work? How do I get it?

2. What is it? Digital sound editing program Created by Dominic Mazzoni and Roger Dannenberg Open source software and can be downloaded for free. It is multilingual. Used with Windows Operating Systems, Mac OSX, and Linux among others. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

3. What can it do? Audacity can be used for many different purposes. Podcasting Import and edit sound files. Export sound files in many different formats including (mp3, wav, au, etc.) http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

4. Podcasting Create podcasts to be attached to blogs, wikis, and websites. Podcasts are uploaded sound or video files that can be accessed through common media players from the internet. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

5. Importing and Editing Sound Import sounds and mix into one track. Layer music and dialog into one file. Special effects: changes to pitch & tempo, remove background noise, fade in, fade out, echo, etc. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

6. Exporting files Use the LAME encoder library to convert to mp3. Any media player Download to mp3 player Attach to wiki, website, etc. Can also export as wav files. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

7. How does it work? Same as Microsoft Word. Edit with just a few clicks Import music to combine with dialog. Use Movie maker – add sound to video clips http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

8. Stay tuned for a demonstration…

9. Podcasting Ideas: Elementary Level Spelling tests Vocabulary words and definitions Audio books Student writing pieces Make-up tests Lesson how-to’s Comprehension questions For more ideas, check out Education Podcast Network at www.epnweb.org

10. Podcasting Ideas: Secondary Level Lectures Complicated lessons: Math, Physics Catch-up for frequent absentees Emergency Sub Plans Student projects Questions from the lecture Foreign language dialect Musical Pieces Fluency For more ideas, check out Education Podcast Network at www.epnweb.org

11. How do I get it? Go to: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Go to the download tab. Click on the download 1.2.6 for windows. To download LAME mp3 encoder: Go to: http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/ Scroll down until you see the link for Audacity for Windows: http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/Lame_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows.exe When you download the LAME mp3 encoder, you will need to save it to your computer, find it in your programs and click on it to extract the correct file. Then, when you export from Audacity as an mp3 the first time, it will ask you to find that file and attach it. You will only need to do this one time and it will be set up indefinitely after that.

12. Audacity Website

13. LAME Website

14. Copyright Information http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ http:// lame.buanzo.com.ar / Audacity is copyright © 2010 members of the Audacity development team. Go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 for more audacity copyright information

15. Other Websites Worth Noting… For other free software: http://sourceforge.net/ For free instrumental music downloads: http://freeplaymusic.com/ For podcasting ideas: http://epnweb.org/ For my wiki page: www.grasmickswiki.pbworks.com