User Guide
Mobile Podcaster™
Podcast from your
iPad or iPhone
© 2012 Mobile Podcaster™
www.mobilepodcaster.com
Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Introduction - Don’t Skip This!
These instructions will show you exactly how to record and publish a podcast from your
iPad or iPhone and publish to your Wordpress site and iTunes. Mobile Podcaster is a
system of tools and services that when combined help achieve this. It includes the
Mobile Podcaster Wordpress Plugin, plus this instruction guide that walks you through
the setup process.
This is fairly technical in nature, but I’ve taken considerable time to provide detailed
instructions, screenshots and code to set everything up correctly.
Once setup, you’ll be able to record full length podcast episodes, upload them to your
server, publish them to your Wordpress blog and have them appear in iTunes. All of this
will be possible without ever touching your computer or logging into any online services
once everything is setup.
Set Aside 60 Minutes to Set Up the Mobile Podcaster System
I’ve been using this process since January 2011 and it works beautifully.
Requirements
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iPad or iPhone
Self installed version of Wordpress (not a wordpress.com blog)
Mobile Podcaster Wordpress Plugin
$1.99 VR+ VoiceRecorder app from iTunes
Contents
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Step 1: Install & Setup VR+ Recording App!
Step 2: Install & Setup Podcasting Plugin in Wordpress!
Step 3: Install & Setup Mobile Podcaster Plugin in Wordpress!
And Finally ... Record & Publish Your Podcast!!
Frequently Asked Questions & Support!
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Step 1: Install & Setup VR+ Recording App
Visit iTunes and download VR+ for $1.99. Here’s the link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vr-voice-for-twitter-facebook/id299049482?mt=8#
This app is an iPhone app and it does not have a customized iPad
version. Don’t worry about that though - it’s what you want. It’s not
what the app looks like that matters - it’s what it does that is important.
Install the iPhone version on either your iPhone and/or iPad.
I’ve tried dozens of audio recording apps & this is the one you want for several reasons:
1. VR+ let’s you record for an unlimited time
2. Recordings are in MP3 - this is really important - most voice apps are not MP3
3. There’s an online component that let’s you share your recordings publicly
4. You can name your recordings and include a description
5. VR+ has variable quality settings
6. and other cool features not directly related to this project
You can see a full list of features here, if you want to learn more.
Setup your online VR+ account
Once you’ve installed VR+, you need to set up your VR+ online account.
Setup your free VR+ account here ... https://vr.shapeservices.com/signup.php
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Once you’ve registered, click on your name in the upper right hand corner to visit your
Profile settings. Fill in your Public Page URL if it’s blank. The RSS feed from this page
will ultimately be used to upload your podcast episodes to your Wordpress site. Write
down the name you put in the Public Page URL. You’ll need this later.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Congratulations! The online portion of VR+ is now all setup.
Setup the VR+ app on your iPad or iPhone.
1. Open VR+ on your iPad or iPhone. If
you’re on your iPad, be sure to click the
little 2X button in the bottom right hand
corner of your iPad to enlarge the app to
full screen viewing.
2. Go to Account tab. Enter your
Username & Password and click Sign In.
3. Go to the General tab and click on the
64 kbps recording quality setting. This
gives you great recording quality with a
modest file size. If you choose a higher
quality, please keep your episodes shorter
than 10 minutes. The files get way too big
to manage for wireless transfer and
streaming.
That’s it for now - VR+ is setup and ready to go on your iPad or iPhone!
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Step 2: Install & Setup Podcasting Plugin in Wordpress
Now we need to setup a podcasting plugin on your Wordpress site to manage your MP3
podcast episodes and make them looks nice one your sight with a custom audio player.
Mobile Podcaster supports two options:
• Option 1: Podcasting Plugin by TSG
• Option 2: BluBrry PowerPress Plugin
If you already have one of these plugins installed, skip ahead to Step 3.
Option 1: Podcasting Plugin by TSG
About the Podcasting Plugin by TSG
From the plugin author ...
The Podcasting Plugin by TSG brings complete podcasting support to WordPress.
Podcasting will take a file from somewhere on the web (either your site or another
site) and it will add it to an iTunes-based feed. Podcasting also includes a player
allowing visitors to your site to view the file on the web.
Features
• Adds a dedicated Podcasting feed with full iTunes support
• Includes the ability to have multiple podcasting feeds based on file format or other
factors.
• Includes both an audio and video player for in-post listening/watching
• Fully integrates with any existing enclosures already stored in WordPress
• Offers a migration tool for users of podPress
Installing the Podcasting Plugin by TSG
The easiest way to install this plugin is to use the built-in Wordpress Plugin Uploader.
1. Login to your Wordpress Admin Dashboard
2. Navigate to Plugins > Add New
3. Search for podcasting
4. Click Install Now under the Podcasting Plugin by TSG
5. Click Activate Plugin and the plugin is now installed and ready to customize
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Activate the plugin once installed and prompted ...
Setting up the Podcasting Plugin by TSG
Now that you have the plugin installed, it’s time to set things up so that your podcast
plays on your website and feeds iTunes so others can subscribe.
1. Login to your Wordpress Admin Dashboard
2. Navigate to Settings > Podcasting
3. Fill out your podcast setting for iTunes and click Save Changes near the bottom.
• Title - If your podcast's title is different than your blog's title, change the title here.
• Podcast Tagline - If your podcast's tagline is different than your blog's tagline,
change the tagline here.
• Summary - A detailed description of your podcast. iTunes allows up to 4,000
characters and the tagline will be used if no summary is entered.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
• Author - The default author of your podcast.
• Podcast Art URL - An image which represents your podcast. iTunes uses this
image on your podcast directory page and a smaller version in searches. iTunes
prefers square .jpg images that are at least 300 x 300 pixels, but any jpg or png will
work.
• Primary Category - The category which most fits your podcast. The primary
category is used in Top Podcasts lists and directory pages which include podcast
art.
• Category 2 - An optional additional category which is only used on directory pages
without podcast art.
• Category 3 - An optional additional category which is only used on directory pages
without podcast art.
• Keywords - Up to 12 comma-separated words which iTunes uses for search
placement.
• Explicit - Notifies readers your podcast contains explicit material. Select clean if
your podcast removed any explicit content. Note: iTunes requires all explicit
podcast to mark them-self as one. Failure to do so can result in removal from the
iTunes podcast directory.
• Owner Name - Your podcast's owner's name. The owner name will not be publicly
displayed and is used only by iTunes in the event they need to contact your
podcast.
• Owner E-mail Address - Your podcast's owner's e-mail address. The owner email address will not be publicly displayed and is used only by iTunes in the event
they need to contact your podcast.
• Player Location - Automatically insert the audio player or video player. Any
players manually inserted will override this setting, so players can still be manually
placed on a per-post basis.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
You can change the Player Width in the Audio Play Options if you want. Leave
everything else with the default settings and click Save Changes.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
After you click Save Changes, copy the Podcast feed address from the top of the
Podcasting Settings (URL). You will need this to paste into iTunes to submit your
podcast to the iTunes directory.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Submit Your Podcast to iTunes
NOTE: Submitting your podcast to iTunes is completely optional. If you only want
your podcast to reside on your website and not on iTunes then skip this step. I
recommend you wait until your first podcast episode is on your site, before
submitting it to iTunes. They will not approve an empty feed for consideration.
Now it’s time to submit your podcast to iTunes. Open iTunes, go to the iTunes store,
click on Podcasts from the top navigation menu and click Submit a Podcast.
A Podcast submission form will open. Paste the URL for your podcast here. This is the
URL you copied from the Podcasting by TSG Settings page earlier. Click Continue.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
You can now review the podcast information that iTunes downloaded from your website.
If you are not happy with anything here, go back to your Podcasting by TSG Settings
page and make the necessary changes and resubmit to iTunes.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Once you are happy with the information that iTunes has about your Podcast, click
Submit. You will get an email from Apple within 10 minutes confirming your submission
and you can expect to hear back from Apple within 72 hours with an Approval notice.
Congratulations! Your podcast is now on iTunes!
Option 2: Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting Plugin
About the Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting Plugin
From the plugin author ...
Blubrry PowerPress brings the essential features for podcasting to WordPress.
Developed by podcasters for podcasters, PowerPress offers full iTunes support, the
Update iTunes Listing feature, web audio/video media players and more.
PowerPress is designed as an upgrade to PodPress.
HTML5 video support: Add both mp4 and webm media to each episode for maximum
platform compatibility
Full iTunes Support: Adds iTunes compliant podcast feeds to your WordPress blog.
Integrated HTML5 and Flash Media Players: Audio/video web players with embed
support from sites such as YouTube and Ustream.tv.
Media Modifiers: Easily add, modify and remove podcasts form blog posts and
pages.
Migration tools: Quickly migrate from PodPress, Blogger or Movable Type without
losing episodes.
Multi-podcast support: Create separate podcasts by category (category casting) or
by media format (Podcast Channels).
Supported Media Formats: mp3, m4a, mp4, m4v, webm, ogg, oga, ogv, wma, ra,
mp4a, m4v, mp4v, mpg, asf, avi, wmv, flv, swf, mov, divx, 3gp, midi, wav, aa, pdf,
torrent, m4b, m4r.
Installing the Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting Plugin
The easiest way to install this plugin is to use the built-in Wordpress Plugin Uploader.
1. Login to your Wordpress Admin Dashboard
2. Navigate to Plugins > Add New
3. Search for podcasting
4. Click Install Now under the Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting plugin
5. Click Activate Plugin and the plugin is now installed and ready to customize
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Activate the plugin once installed and prompted ...
Setting up the Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting Plugin
Now that you have the plugin installed, it’s time to set things up so that your podcast
plays on your website and feeds iTunes so others can subscribe.
1. Login to your Wordpress Admin Dashboard
2. Navigate to PowerPress > Settings >Basic Settings
a. Fill out your basic settings and click Save Changes at the bottom.
i. check the box for Media URL
ii. check the box for Media File Size and Duration
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
3. Navigate to PowerPress > Settings >Media Appearance
b. Fill out your media settings and click Save Changes at the bottom.
i. check the box for Enable PowerPress Media Players and Links (default)
ii. check the box for Display media and links Below page content (default)
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
iii. check the box for Display Player
4. Navigate to PowerPress > Settings >iTunes
a. Fill out your iTunes settings and click Save Changes at the bottom.
i. Fill in iTunes Subtitle and Program Summary. Use some keywords here so
that when people search on iTunes they will find your podcast.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
ii. Fill in up to 12 iTunes Program Keywords or short phrases
iii. Select your iTunes Category and iTunes Explicit Rating
iv. Upload your iTunes Image for your album artwork. I recommend a square
image that is 600 x 600 px
v. Fill in iTunes Talent Name and email address for notification from Apple
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
After you click Save Changes, copy the Podcast feed address from the top of the
Podcasting Settings (URL). You will need this to paste into iTunes to submit your
podcast to the iTunes directory.
Submit Your Podcast to iTunes
NOTE: Submitting your podcast to iTunes is completely optional. If you only want
your podcast to reside on your website and not on iTunes then skip this step. I
recommend you wait until your first podcast episode is on your site, before
submitting it to iTunes. They will not approve an empty feed for consideration.
Now it’s time to submit your podcast to iTunes. Either click on the link provided in
BluBrry PowerPress Settings or open iTunes, go to the iTunes store, click on Podcasts
from the top navigation menu and click Submit a Podcast.
A Podcast submission form will open. Paste the URL for your podcast here. This is the
URL you copied from the BluBrry PowerPress Settings page earlier. Click Continue.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
You can now review the podcast information that iTunes downloaded from your website.
If you are not happy with anything here, go back to your BluBrry PowerPress Settings
page and make the necessary changes and resubmit to iTunes.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Once you are happy with the information that iTunes has about your Podcast, click
Submit. You will get an email from Apple within 10 minutes confirming your submission
and you can expect to hear back from Apple within 72 hours with an Approval notice.
Congratulations! Your podcast is now on iTunes!
Step 3: Install & Setup Mobile Podcaster Plugin in Wordpress
Now, let’s setup and install the Mobile Podcaster Plugin in Wordpress. The purpose of
this plugin is to scan your VR+ public feed for any new episodes and automatically
upload them into your site as new posts.
The plugin does not just create a simple link to your MP3 - it actually grabs the MP3,
title and description and uploads it to a “podcasts” folder within your Wordpress Uploads
directory. The benefit is that your files reside on your server, so you never have to fear
losing them in the future.
IMPORTANT: This plugin runs a cron job roughly every hour to upload your latest
podcast episode and publish your new blog post. If you have little or no traffic to
your website, the cron job will fire once someone visits your site.
Please do not be discouraged if you don’t immediately see your new blog post. If it’s
been over an hour since you posted your audio to VR+, just visit your website to
trigger Wordpress to run the cron job.
Installing the Mobile Podcaster Plugin
The plugin installation file is included in the files with this document and is called mobilepodcaster.zip. There is no need to unzip the files contents.
To install the plugin just upload the file in the Wordpress Plugin Install Menu in your
Wordpress Admin Dashboard.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Activate the plugin once installed and prompted ...
Setting up the Mobile Podcaster Plugin
Now that you have the plugin installed, it’s time to set things up so that your podcast
episodes are properly imported into your site.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
1. Login to your Wordpress Admin Dashboard
2. Navigate to Settings > Mobile Podcaster
3. Fill in the name you chose for your VR+ Public Page URL
4. Select whether you want the blog posts for your new podcast episodes to
automatically Publish or Save as Draft. I highly recommend that you keep the default
Draft option selected until you’re completely comfortable with how everything works.
5. Select the Podcasting Platform Plugin you are using on your site, either the
Podcasting Plugin by TSG or BluBrry PowerPress Plugin.
You’ll also notice a Cron Job line item. The Mobile Podcaster plugin has a built-in,
custom cron job to automatically process your podcast episodes and generate new blog
posts. The cron job runs approximately every hour, depending on the volume of
traffic to your site.
IMPORTANT: If it seems like the cron job is not firing and new blog posts are not
publishing as expecting, simply visit your website on any browser to manually trigger
the cron job to run. You can also go to Your Plugins dashboard, deactivate the
Mobile Podcaster plugin and then Activate it again to reset the Cron Job clock.
When you do this it will fire again in 60 seconds.
Below the settings are links to frequently asked questions and support information.
That’s it for the Mobile Podcaster plugin!
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
And Finally ... Record & Publish Your Podcast!
It’s finally time to record and publish your podcast.
Open VR+ on your iPad or iPhone
Click the big Record button and speak
into the microphone.
Select Cancel if you want to listen to your
recording or click More if you are ready to
publish.
Hint: the iPhone microphone is on the
bottom on either side of the docking
plug. The iPad microphone is on the top
near the power button.
If you choose Cancel, then click on
podcast recording to Play the audio or
click on the small blue arrow next to the
episode to proceed to renaming and
uploading the file.
Click the Pause button if you need to
take a break
Click the Stop button when you are
finished
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
When you hit More after recording you
will see these Actions menu. Click on
the Rename option near the bottom.
Rename your recording. This will be the
title of the corresponding blog post and
podcast episode in iTunes. You can
always change it later in Wordpress if you
want and iTunes will automatically update.
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Mobile Podcaster™ — Podcast from your iPad or iPhone
Click Upload to VR+ Online if you are
ready to publish.
Next you will be prompted to Add a
Note.
Add a Note to your recording. This will be
the body of your blog post and the long
description included in your iTunes
podcast episode. Keep this as long or
short as you wish and feel free to include
paragraph breaks - my Wordpress plugin
will pick up on this and correctly format
your content.
Make sure you the Make recording
public option to the “ON” position.
Click Upload and you’re done!
Frequently Asked Questions & Support
Mobile Podcaster Plugin
http://www.mobilepodcaster.com/faq
http://www.mobilepodcaster.com/support
Podcasting Plugin by TSG
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/podcasting/
BluBrry PowerPress Podcasting Plugin
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/powerpress/
VR+ by Shape Services
https://vr.shapeservices.com
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