Vocaroo

After browsing some fellow educators' LiveBinders, I stumbled onto Vocaroo. Vocaroo is still in its BETA stage, so there may be a few bugs, but it looks like a temporary and easy solution to podcasting!

According to the FAQ section of the Vocaroo website, the podcasts will be available for 5-6 months if you have an account (if you record anonymously, the messages will last 1-2 months). This might get a little annoying, since you'd have to keep recording virtually the same podcasts year after year, but...I've changed the details of projects I've assigned before, so maybe that automatic deletion thing is really a blessing in disguise. :)

You still need a microphone (either built-in or external) to record, but it's SUPER SIMPLE. Seriously, this is a screen shot of pretty much the only page on the website:



If you're easily scared off my technology, TRUST ME! You can do this! :) You just press the big "record" button that pops up automatically on the screen, and start speaking! I've never seen anything easier (in the way of podcasting) in my life! The FAQ section also says that podcasts can be as long as you want! That's amazing. I mean, normally, you can record a podcast for as long as you want, but most free hosting sites put a limit as to a maximum of how big individual files can be. So it's pretty cool that you REALLY can create and share podcasts of unlimited lengths.

Besides the automatic deletion thing, another downside to Vocaroo is that, although users can download your podcasts, they'll download in a funky format. Supposedly, it's kind-of like an mp3 file, but you'd have to download another program to get it work properly. ...Seems like an unnecessary step to me, but I guess I can't fault a completely free and simple program like this one!

Once you record a podcast, you have two options: share it on the web, or share it in an e-mail. I opted for the "share in an e-mail" function and sent it to myself. It appears as a link in the e-mail message, and you have to click on it (thus, going to another web page) in order to hear the message. The message starts playing automatically. And then it gives THAT user a choice for sharing: e-mail or website? So that's pretty handy. You could post it on your classroom website...or e-mail yourself the link and then post that link on your classroom blog, on the blackboard, etc.

You'd have to be careful not to record podcasts TOO much in advance. And your kids probably wouldn't be able to put the podcasts on their iPods, but...there are probably only a few kids who do that, anyway. ;)

All in all, I believe Vocaroo is a plausible option for classroom podcasting. Let me know what you think!