The word “platform” is overused to the extent that when you heard the phrase podcast platform, you could possibly think of two or three entirely different things related to podcasting.

In a operating system world, a platform is combination of hardware and operating system. As such, Apple Macintosh is a platform, Intel processor and Windows operating system is another platform. And then, in the marketing world, platform refers to something as a foundation for readership/listenership and experience.

When it comes to podcasting, you are given more choices. There are entirely web applications that are a complete platform for podcaster.

Instead of overwhelming you with information from recording to editing to publishing and hosting, this post will cover just one thing: podcast recording platform. The “other” platform will be covered later in another post.

So how do you choose and build a podcast recording platform?

To borrow from Perl’s motto, TIMTOWTDI — pronounced Tim Toady — or there is more than one way to do it.

You can always start by using what you already have. A personal computer or a laptop is more than enough. If you don’t own a mic, go shop for one. It could be less than $20 for an acceptable quality mic. You can upgrade later.

This perhaps is less than a problem for podcasters. However, others prefer to record their podcasts using anything other than a computer.

If you often record your podcast while on the move — or you choose to start a sound-seeing podcasts, a mobile media player and recorder like iRiver is a good choice. For iPod mania out there, attaching a MicroMemo immediately turns an iPod Video of Nano into audio voice recorder.

Alternatively, you can choose to record using your phone or VoIP. One example of such a platform is gabcast. This doesn’t require any equipment other than a phone. The quality can’t be better than phone conversations though.

Of course, you will also need an editing platform to edit and enhance podcasts. Choose an audio editor (free to several hundreds of even thousands of dollars) that suits your personal workflow.

A free audio recorder and editor like Audacity is enough to start with.

Although I don’t recommend starting out with expensive equipment or studio quality hardware, my budget home recording studio series has recommendation for various components of a good to great podcast recording and editing platform.

See also: Podcast Equipment, Podcast Software.

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