Meedu F.A.Q.
Q: What is a podcast?
A subscription to a media file. Specifically, a podcast is an audio or video
file transmitted over the internet and enclosed inside an "RSS" or "XML"
file. RSS and XML allow users to subscribe to these audio and video files,
and be automatically notified when new files are available. They're really
easy to use, and though the standard was invented only 2 years ago, hundreds
of thousands of people enjoy podcasts every day.
Q: Can I upload files directly into Cal-ITEC/UCSD, bypassing Meedu?
No, in order to protect the "backends" from potential attacks and to minimize
the commitment for a backend provider only the Meedu service can put files
into the UCSD backend. However, anyone gets "read" access to those files.
Other "gateways" will be added over time; Meedu is just the first gateway
of what we hope are soon many.
Q: How well tested and fleshed out is Meedu? Is this vaporware?
Meedu is tried and tested. The software is the same as what is currently
used by other podcasting clients at PodASP.com: Intuit, KUSC, WFDU, KBPK
are examples of this. PodASP.com has been operating for over ten months
with zero downtime.
Q: Does iTunes (tm) work with Meedu?
Yes, all podcasts and episodes are 100% compatible with iTunes (tm)
Q: Can I use Meedu and iTunes U at the same time?
Yes, you can host files in both services and both will be searchable in
iTunes.
Q: Is iTunes required for Meedu?
No, any podcast software is supported. Hosting with Meedu means that you
can also get indexing from Yahoo!, Google, Technorati and Microsoft, to
name a few. Meedu offers the widest exposure for your educational podcasts
because the service is entirely open.
Q: What file formats are supported?
MP3, AAC, Enhanced AAC, MPEG4, RM, WMV, WMA, PDF. In fact, any file can
be hosted on Meedu. Metafile generation is automated for most of these (RAM,ASX).
Q: What is a "backend?"
A backend refers to the final hosting place for your media. Meedu is the
front end to the service, where you or your podcasting appliance pushes
files. Meedu provides the easy management facilities. The backend is where
your files finally reside, and where your listeners receive the files. Having
this level of separation and indirection means that Meedu can scale to many
more backends as storage needs grow. As Meedu grows, we anticipate other
bandwidth-ready universities to offer service for this growing educational
podcast repository. And, multiple front ends can be added to the variety
of backends.
Q: Will Meedu podcasts be available over other devices, like cell
phones?
Yes, because Meedu is based on entirely open standards, unlike iTunes, Meedu
podcasts will be available on a much wider variety of devices than iTunes
podcasts.
Q: Do I have direct access to the files once they are hosted on UCSD
or another backend?
Yes, you have two options when referencing the files. You can get the meedu
routed URL (something like http://meedu.org/episodes/ucsd/uoamerica/file.mp3),
or you can get the final URL (something like http://www.cal-itec.org/meedu/episodes/uoc/file.mp3).
If you would prefer not to be routed through Meedu, you are fine to do so.
Meedu routing offers statistics generation and has more flexibility than
raw URLs, however.
Podcast in a Box FAQ
Q: Podcast in a Box produces only audio files? I want to do video
podcasts.
There are some considerations when making this decision. If you do video
podcasts, you must have a camera operator or "Smart Classroom" (where the
instructor effectively becomes the camera operator). You must also know
that your viewers all possess video iPods; the penetration rate right now
is very low for video iPods. Read more about Podcast in a Box here.