Being a church web designer, I often find myself needing to set up a podcast. I have used several different methods to achieve this in WordPress (my platform of choice), but only a few stand out as being really great options.
Let me first start by saying that PodPress, as popular as it may be, is not going to be covered. Although it’s a popular choice, it does not appear to be in active development (last updated in 2007) and is a resource HOG!
There are much better choices in my opinion, so let’s check them out. These are just the first of many ideas and can help provide some guidance for comparison.
1. PowerPress
The Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting Plugin for WordPress is very similar to PodPress in functionality (and even has a handy migration feature). Some of the key features of PowerPress are:
- Full iTunes Support (very easy to set up)
- Several Media Players to choose from
- Easy to style with CSS
- Really good documentation
After installing and configuring PowerPress you will have a new panel as you add new posts that allows you to enter in a media file as well as meta-data specific to iTunes.
2. Sermon Browser
This option is ideal for churches and ministry organizations. I have only played with this on a development site and have never gone live using this plugin.
But it looks like it could be a very intuitive way to start podcasting sermons using WordPress. Some of the best features of Sermon Browser are:
- Built specifically for podcasting sermons
- Template options to customize layout
- Ability to specify preacher, sermon series, service time, and passage preached
- Great documentation (several videos)
From the little time I spent playing with this plugin, it seemed great. iTunes support was not super straightforward, but it’s there.
[Editor: We have also covered Sermon Browser originally here.]
3. Look Ma’ No Plugins
I know there are folks out there who try to do as much as they can without plugins. The great news is that WordPress can handle your podcast easily without the need for plugins.
All you have to do is upload an mp3 like you normally would and insert it into the body of your post (make sure it’s an absolute link and not relative to your site). Then select the category for your podcast (e.g. Podcast). The feed address for the category is now your podcast feed address (http://sitename/category/podcast/feed).
Simple as pie!
Do you know an easier or better way? I’d love to hear it.
Happy podcasting!
Rich Schmidt says
Thanks for this! I’ve used PodPress on a couple of different sites & had been frustrated with its apparent abandonment. I look forward to exploring these new options!
Vin Thomas says
Rich, I think you’ll find PowerPress the most similar to PodPress. It’s basically like PodPress, but better 🙂
Greg Simmons says
We use sermon.net which is VERY easy for anybody to use.
Simple “studio” interface allows you to create, tag and upload your podcast. The nice part is that you can upload several different audio file types and sermon.net will do the conversion for you (32 or 64 bit). There is also an option to upload PPT or Doc files which sermon.net converts to PDF for you.
The best part is that syndication is taken care of for you. Simply set up the iTunes podcast and submit the feed.
One last thing, the sermon.net player is easy to embed and is user friendly for site visitors.
John Saddington says
very cool, thanks!
faithengineer says
I think there is a huge need for an inexpensive and easily embeddable sermon audio & video player for church websites. I’ve experimented with several services and I’ve not found one that really hits the sweet spot. WordPress definitely is inexpensive, but a little harder to embed in an existing site.
I’ve tried out Mediarush, sermon.net, sermondrop, sermoncloud, and buzzsprout. Any other ideas?
Vin Thomas says
I agree. I have been keeping my eye open for podcasting services that offer easy management for churches. Some of them are ok, but I am not the hugest fan of the embedded flash players. I’d love to see something that offers simple series management, iTunes integration, and simple embed code.
I haven’t found a great solution. The above is the best I’ve found. I usually end up using PowerPress.
Bo Lane says
We use to run our podcast on the podPress plugin, and for a while, it worked great. But after hearing about the PowerPress plugin from Blubrry, we gladly made the switch. Thanks for the article. I’m always looking for new ways to integrate podcast features onto our website.
Vin Thomas says
I would be interested in seeing how people have used WordPress built in podcasting ability to do this. I have only done this once, and it was way back in the day.
Anyone come up with a creative way of displaying sermon podcasts using WordPress built-in features?
Andrew says
Our church currently doesn’t use any WP Plugins for sermon hosting.
We haven’t done any fancy design work to make it work. We’re at the stage where simple is best, and many people who would be downloading bible talks regularly would most likely be using iTunes or the like as a podcatcher, so design hasn’t really crossed our minds yet.
Vin Thomas says
I agree. For most sermon podcasts, people will access them through services like iTunes.
The thing I like about PodPress is that it allows you access to iTunes specific fields that aren’t built into WordPress (iTunes Categories, Explicit Settings, Thumbnail, etc).
I just launched a site that uses PodPress. iTunes looks fine, but the actual site looks half decient too: WSFC Podcast Page
Vin Thomas says
Oops…I said PodPress, but meant PowerPress. I don’t use PodPress on any sites.
anablepo says
I am very grateful for this post as I have been stuggling to find decent ways of user friendly podcasting methods. Hadn’t thought about wordpress plugins. Been too focused on PC based software. Making it a web based podcast opens up the world of options. THANKS!
NickShoe says
Great, informative post! I haven’t looked into the podcasting options for WP yet, but I completely agree about the podpress plugin! Thanks for the info!
dave miers says
thanks for the tips.
i might try powerpress with a current project.
do you have any examples of churches using powerpress?
i’ve had problems with sermon browser the couple of times i’ve used it.
Vin Thomas says
Here are a couple sites I have done using PowerPress:
http://gfcfamily.com
http://wsfc.org
Dave Jackson says
As someone who has been podcasting since 2005 (and helped hundreds learn how to podcast) I have to savy that powerpress is the best thing out there. There are features in it that you won’t use, but the fact that it gives you a player, a download option, and the ability to listen in a new window is awesome.
Dave Jackson
http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com
Brandon Cox says
I use the third option, creating my own feed, but then I feed it to Feedburner so that I can perform some further optimizations and have an extra distribution channel or two.
Vin Thomas says
Yes, a Feedburner feed is great for analytics and gives you a few more options. Thanks for the tip!
Wayne Cordova says
I think that may be our solution! Thanks!
Tim Lemons says
can you do video that way as well?
Joel says
Can you add iTunes tags with the no plugin option (title, photo, description, length, etc)? Will iTunes attempt to interpret any of these automatically? Also, how do you pretty up a bare mp3 link in the middle of a post (for those who visit via the web and not the iTunes browswer)
Thanks for these ideas, I didn’t realize it was so easy to do this with wordpress. I have been writing my itunes feed by hand!
Vin Thomas says
I believe iTunes will pull your post tags as the keywords and use the body text as the description.
Tim McDaniel says
I use the Podcasting plugin. It is straightforward and has the option of creating a flash player in the post (which I hate). For playing in the post, I use the WPAudio plugin – it’s iPhone-friendly. I also use Feedburner to provide some flexibility.
But PowerPress sounds good, and I will probably test that, too.
Robin Curry says
I also want to mention http://sermondrop.com. It is specifically designed for sermon podcasting, has great iTunes support, rss syndication, widgets for integrating with your church website and is really simple to use for small & large churches alike.
John Saddington says
wow, that is very cool! wanna write a guest article about it?
Robin Curry says
I would love to, John. Let’s talk.
John Saddington says
nevermind. i got it! 😉 next time.
William Lehman says
I didn’t like the options for either podpress or blubrry podcasting plugins and since wordpress can do it on it’s own with a category rss feed, I realized I only needed to accomplish two things.
A way to play any mp3 file located on the site directly from the site without leaving a page (ie embedded player). For this, I used the “SSG WordPress Google Audio Player” plugin. Personally, I thought the default css option displayed great within the post.
A way to auto list audio files from a given folder on a page and have them auto embed and list file names. This was harder to find and I had to modify it a little to display correctly for what I wanted. The “Media Downloader” plugin worked beautifully for this.
The reason I wanted to list the files from a folder was to allow the audio archives to be browsed easily but not show up in the podcast feed.
Kevin Gilbert says
I have been looking at developing a dedicated sermon library type plugin for WordPress for the last few months. I’d love to hear specific thoughts on needs/wants for a plugin. I have my ideas, and I’ve talked to a few media/internet/tech directors from a few churches, but I’d love to hear any additional ideas anyone here has. I’ve also used and or seen everything mentioned here. I agree, something simple and specific to sermon podcasting would be the ticket.
On a related note…how many of you are using .mp3 only, rather than .m4a, enhanced podcast file types? I like .m4a because I can overlay graphics that display while the podcast plays and embed links for the user to follow for more info.
Vin Thomas says
Kevin,
I think this is a great idea. As much hope as I’d like to have for the Sermon Browswer plugin, I don’t think it really hits the mark for me.
Here are a few things I’d like to see in a sermon podcast plugin:
• iTunes Integration
• Ability to Group/Sort by Sermon Series
• Ability to customize the layout
I have been using .mp3 because it’s what is sent to me to post. But I think using .m4a files is a better way to go. How do you go about getting that data (images/links) into the file?
Kevin Gilbert says
Regarding the .m4a data and images and such, as a Mac guy, I know GarageBand has those features built in. We’ve actually consulted with several churches and encouraged them to use a Mac (Mini or iMac) and record directly to GarageBand using the podcast tools built in. The final file is complete with artwork, metadata, graphics and links if you choose to use them all. You can also bring files into iTunes and “prep” them for podcasting by editing their metadata there. Anyone podcasting and using iTunes as your directory of choice should take a look at Apple’s iTunes Podcast specs, here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html. Apple has instructions for using QuickTime Pro ($29.99) on both Windows and Mac, to create Podcasts, also.
Regarding your bullet points for a WordPress Plugin, which I’ve tentatively been thinking of as a sermon/event library, and the last one – ability to customize the layout – I’m assuming you mean per “post” or per “sermon” page layout, correct?
I love PowerPress, but sometimes find it to be a little much for church volunteers. If I could have the power of that, but specifically developed with the church market in mind, with the key elements and ease of use, I think we’d have something.
Anyone interested in having it integrate with Amazon S3 for storage of media? What about pricing? Small monthly or yearly fee with free upgrades and support? One time higher price with support for a set amount of time?
I’ve had several media/tech directors from churches indicate they’d be willing to pay as much as $40/ month for something like this that was simple and it worked.
Vin Thomas says
Thanks for the tips on .m4a files.
I don’t forsee tons of my clients wanting to pay a monthly fee for this service. Especially since you aren’t hosting any of the files. It makes more sense to me to have you charge a one time fee to download the plugin. I use several premium plugins for WordPress and don’t mind paying. But I don’t think there are any that I would pay monthly for.
I would be willing to pay between $20 and $200 for a plugin like this. It all depends on how slick it is in the end.
Kevin Gilbert says
Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it. That’s kind of been my thought, but like I said, I actually had a guy tell me he’d pay $40/month for something good. He uses AmazonS3 for storage and says his monthly cost on that is insignificant.
Steven Rossi says
I’ve been using Sermon Browser on http://www.lfachurch.org (see Sermons on the right sidebar) and I’m pretty happy with it. The site needs a bit more work, but the sermons work really well. To be fair, on a previous iteration of the site, I used PodPress, which is extremely robust and was very helpful in setting up the iTunes stuff. I switched to Sermon Browser recently, though, and it’s proved fairly satisfactory with some minor adjustments.
I must say, though, I’m glad I had already set up our iTunes info with PodPress, because Sermon Browser doesn’t offer that functionality.
Justin Woulard says
I’ve used podpress before on a couple of different church sites but I’ve been looking for something else. Thanks for the suggestions. I think I’ll try PowerPress and see if it meets my needs.
Brad Davis Seal says
Powerpress was very easy to set up. Took 10 minutes to create a new blog and upload an MP3 to my server. Took 2 hours to appear in iTunes.
Brad Davis Seal says
http:podbean.com is a easy, cheap hosted podcasting service.
John Saddington says
sweet
Rapture Prophecy says
Thanks for sharing! I plan to keep this blog post on file for wordpress blogs. I also appreciate the helpful comments.
Bible Prophecy
http://bibleprophecy-rapture.blogspot.com
Kind Regards,
John Saddington says
cool…?
Brad Davis Seal says
PowerPress is magic. 1 post creates 2 podcasts; audio & video. Just upload files to server. In PowerPress settings, create second feed. Create a post in wordpress for the podcast. Paste links to both types media in post. Submit both feeds to iTunes. Since we already pay for hosting WordPress at Dreamhost, podcast hosting was free.
John Saddington says
sweet. i’ve used it a number of times.
Joshua Poe says
Just wanted to see what u think best option is as if 2012.