Podcasting and Blogging with GarageBand and iWeb

Podcasting and Blogging with GarageBand and iWeb from Peachpit Press in association with SpiderWorks at $19.99 is targeted at the beginner and intermediate user and it does an excellent job. To be critical the intermediate user may struggle to get enough value out of it if they are been modest in their assessment of their own skills, but it is a well constructed, clearly laid out ad easy to follow book.

What they say:

If you’ve got something to say and want to join the podcasting revolution but don’t know how to start, this short and approachable guide from bestselling authors Robin Williams and John Tollett will teach you how to create and distribute podcasts using Apple’s easy-to-use audio and Web site tools. Using the Garageband and iWeb tools from Apple’s iLife 06 suite of tools, Robin and John show you how to create professional sounding and looking podcasts, including how to add chapter markers, artwork, sound effects, jingles, and musical accompaniment to your podcasts.

What I say:

A very well constructed, competent guide to both iWeb and Garage band, I really enjoyed this book. It gives a useful introduction to the concepts of blogging and podcasting, but covers neither in any real detail. The majority of the content centers around iWeb and Garage Band which it does very well. There is some (inevitable) duplication in the explanations as a number of process are the same in i.e. adding a Podcast page and adding a Blog page in iWeb.

A slight word or warning – this book, like Apple themselves, tends to make light of the reality of podcasting! A .Mac account whilst good in many ways really isn’t enough to sustain anything other than a family or very part time podcasting hobby. The book rather glibly says you may as well save your podcast episodes in your Home folder, when in reality you are going to quickly require external data space as your episodes grow. Now they are right is saying that as far as getting started is concerned ,Mac and iWeb are good enough, the reality is that you will move on quickly. Also whilst the book describes how to use Garage Band exceptionally well, don’t think that it will tell you all you need to know about the concepts behind audio editing. It doesn’t but nor should it. I would advise that you have an alternative reference to hand to help you understand regions, non-destructive editing, sound effect filters etc.

This doesn’t distract from the value and clarity of the book as a means of getting you started, but I don’t want people to get the impression that they wont need anything else other than their Mac and iLife06. The book doesn’t claim to be anything other than guide the novice through setting up a family of hobby blog/podcast and it does that exceptionally well. A number of you will be happy enough with that so this book will work really well for you. Some of you will want to develop more advanced skills so if you know that you have bigger plans you may want to look for a book that explores the more advanced options.

Book Details:

ISBN-10: 0-321-49217-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-49217-3
Published: Aug 23, 2006
Copyright 2007
Dimensions 7-3/8 X 9-1/8
Pages: 176
Edition: 1st.