How to Upload Longer Podcasts on Soundcloud

SoundCloud comes up when people talk about podcast hosting. Technically, though, SoundCloud isn't a podcast host like Libsyn or Blubrry, but rather a streaming audio platform. They do host media, both on gratis and paid plans, and they have a pretty nifty player and subscription model. Just, like everything else, you accept pros and cons to the service. Nosotros want you to be able to make the  well-nigh informed decision yous tin, so let's become ahead and dig into SoundCloud.

Pros for SoundCloud

It's a Social Platform

Probably the biggest positive in SoundCloud'due south favor is that it isn't just a streaming audio platform. It'south a social audio platform. In the same way that people interact with pics and videos on Instagram, that's how you interact with tracks, albums, and users on SoundCloud. When information technology comes to music and podcasts both, people honey to share what they love. They want to talk well-nigh what they love. If your podcast is centered around a community more than than an idea, and y'all become lots of interaction, SoundCloud might be a corking place for you lot to look.

Defended Apps

Despite podcasts having been around for a proficient long time (the termpodcast was coined in 2004 by Ben Hammersley ofThe Guardian), finding a good app for listening to your subscriptions is still kind of a hurting. Features many listeners want aren't included across the board, even in the default, industry-standard Podcasts app that Apple tree includes in iOS. And Android doesn't even have a standard podcast player.

While in that location are free options out there that work well, they all carry differently for different people. Overcast, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, and others all have different UIs, which can obfuscate leaving reviews, amid other things. With SoundCloud, if y'all publish on their platform, your listeners tin download your episodes through the official SoundCloud app. (Which solves the Android podcast app problem that plagues and then many 'casters.)

Different other podcast hosts, SoundCloud doesn't rely on unproblematic RSS to disseminate your podcast (though it does that, too, so you lot can be listed everywhere). Information technology lets listeners connect straight with you, socially and passively. It'south easy for people to find you and interact with yous on SC considering they use the service like a search engine. Cool, right?

Kind of Pro, Kind of Con

Information technology'due south Free

Sort of. I will use this as a transition between the pros and cons because where this one falls will depend on who you ask. I've used both sides of the platform, personally. That's why I put it here in this grey area. I am personally ambivalent almost it, and so is the rest of the cyberspace.

Why's that? Well, because the free version is severely limited. But it works well for a certain demographic of hobbyist podcasters. Here'southward the breakdown of their tiers:

SoundCloud Basic (the costless tier) is great for new podcasters who don't know if they can stick with information technology. iii hours of podcasting a month is perfectly adequate for weekly shows that run 30-45 minutes each. And as a new 'caster, that's enough. The bones stats are just that. And the embeds are what you've probably seen on every SC player e'er. Notwithstanding, if you are intending to practice more than tape a few short shows a calendar month, you will need to upgrade.

The biggest reason to upgrade to eitherProorPro Unlimited is for 2 features:supersede tracks andscheduled releases. As a podcaster myself, these two features are invaluable. Because I'one thousand human. I have a hectic schedule similar you folks do which makes scheduling podcast releases the well-nigh important feature I can take. I brand a lot of light-headed, careless mistakes (like maybe uploading the wrong bear witness'south media file to the primary RSS feed. Oops.). Without one or both of these paid features, at some point, your feed is going to go off the rails. Your listeners will be dislocated. If they're dislocated, they may bound ship.

And then in this grayness area, the near-universal ambivalence comes because the free tier is actually proficient for a lot of people, and when combined with the social features and dedicated, cantankerous-platform app, brand SoundCloudactually appealing for many people. Nonetheless, the paywall for two of the most basic features that come up with other podcast hosts for complimentary (or at their everyman tiers, rather than the highest) gives a lot of people break.

Cons for SoundCloud

Uploads are past Time, not File Size

Now, in terms of downsides to SoundCloud, one of the biggest is that they limit your podcasting past hours. Other hosts do it past file size. This is important. For podcasting, information technology's okay to skimp on chip rate and sample ate because the quality differential is by and large unnoticed. From the NPR website (royalty among podcasters):

We recommend encoding these files at a lower bit charge per unit of 24-64kbps. Besides, the sample rate should be a standard kHz rate of eleven, 22, 33 or 44 kHz. This will permit your users to download files more chop-chop and effect in lower bandwidth usage for the station. Keep in mind people listen on computer speakers, head phones so higher quality is non appreciated.

They go on to outline the time, quality, and file size ratios, too.

five minutes encoded at 24kpbs is approximately 1 MB, 48kpbs is approximately 1.7 MB, and 64kpbs is approximately 2.five MB

thirty minutes encoded at 32kbps is approximately 7 MB, 64kbps is approximately 14 MB

ane hr encoded at 32 kbps is approximately 13 MB, 56 kbps is approximately 22 MB, and 64 kbps is approximately 25 MB

When looking at SoundCloud versus Libsyn or Blubrry or others, you tin get the same upload of a huge lossless WAV file as you do a minimal 24kbps MP3. Equally a prolific podcaster, y'all can run out of time very easily if yous're non on the unlimited plan. A lot of people hate this because you can get a lot more than iii hours packed into your audio if y'all follow the NPR standards.

That said, this is what I meant when I said that SC was non primarily a podcasting platform. Information technology is designed showtime and foremost for music, which is why they limit you by the hour instead of file size. Yous can get a lot more than high quality songs on your account than yous can podcasts.

They Might Be in Trouble

Depending on where yous look, who you lot talk to, and what you read, SoundCloud is either in tremendous financial trouble or is doing only fine, thank y'all very much. When SoundCloud laid off over 40% of employees in 2017, there was a kind of exodus from the platform to other hosts by podcasters. Independent musicians tended to stay, but it became the chief host of far, far fewer podcasters. Later all, transferring hosts for your media while keeping the same RSS feed consistent is pretty serious business organization.

Of grade, since the layoffs, the visitor has said that it's fine (merely every company tends to say that until the very end) and that information technology has no intentions of closing. However, the general consensus is to use SC as a syndication tool like Stitcher or TuneIn, but employ someone else for your primary media host.

I included this in the piece because information technology is kind of the night cloud hanging over SC in regard to podcasting. It's not a maybe-con and a full-on 1 because I want y'all to know what you lot're going into. Even potentially sinking has made people totally avoid the company, and I don't desire to make it audio similar it's a black-and-white issue. It's not. No one wants to get defenseless unaware and lose their piece of work or have to redo it. Proceed with caution and with all the info you can so y'all can make an informed decision.

Is SoundCloud Right For You lot?

Maybe. It is absolutely a identify y'all desire to include your podcast. Information technology just depends on what kind of needs you have for this to be your main host. For many podcasters, SoundCloud is only another tool they can use to get their podcast out there. With iTunes beingness the 800-lb gorilla of the podcasting world, you will still get over 90% of your downloads through at that place. But SoundCloud does offer a lot of cool toys and gadgets for you. Plus, it's a practiced thought to have a few % come from the SC searches. Merely it's up to you to accept all this info and make up one's mind which host is the best. SoundCloud is definitely a viable selection, though, peculiarly for the more audiophiliac among you.

What accept your experiences been with SoundCloud?

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Source: https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/resources/pros-and-cons-of-using-soundcloud-for-your-podcast

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