Putting A Podcast On Your MySpace Page

Individually, podcasts and MySpace have made huge promotional waves in the music industry. Now, however, the two can be integrated to maximize an artist’s exposure and reach. And, as is the case with the vast majority of services that are being rapidly produced to be compatible with MySpace, most of the streaming podcast players are free.

As when you publish any podcast, it must first be hosted somewhere. There are countless sites that offer this service. Of course, if you have your own website, you can also host your podcasts there. Once you are ready to publish your podcast through a MySpace-friendly player, you will need the appropriate URL.

Big Contact (www.bigcontact.com) offers its Feed Player in both slim and standard sizes. In addition to offering streaming audio, the player provides show notes and links and enables fans to subscribe to the podcast or even share it on their own page. Users simply copy the code provided on Big Contact’s website into their MySpace profile. From the company’s website, users can also paste in a free “Share” chicklet to display on their page to facilitate the distribution of the podcast across the web.

The Pickle Player (www.podcastpickle.com) comes in two different styles. The first appears as a single scrolling bar, similar to iTunes in its zoom format. Users can select from standard and compact sizes within this style. The second is a multiple episode player that offers full playback options, volume control, and a time marker.

Odeo (www.odeo.com) has created a player that serves as an Apple Widget (a small window that appears on your Mac desktop, such as a weather Widget that displays the current temperature without the user having to go online). Once the user has downloaded the player, he or she can then place either a single audio file or a full podcast on his or her MySpace page. Users simply go to their Odeo podcast page, click “Put This Podcast on Your Website” and then paste the HTML text provided into their profile.

If you want a more feature-packed player and are willing to drop a little cash ($15), the PupuPlayer PRO (www.pupuplayer.com) might be a good choice. Among the player’s many offerings are a built-in video player and m4a file compatibility (to sidestep all those tricky interoperability problems created by iTunes’ FairPlay system). There is also a free PupuPlayer available.