While it is possible to spend a great deal of money on expensive software and hardware for professional results, we found that using free software and a cheap microphone it is possible to produce amateur podcasts of sufficient quality . These suggestions are based on our own experiences.
Software
Audacity is a free open source audio recording and editing program.
We used Audacity to record the Blackboard Briefing podcasts. However please note that iSolutions does not provide support for Audacity.
Alternative software may be located using Google. A commercial alternative could be Adobe Audition.
Hardware
Other than a computer, a microphone is necessary to record your voice.
Some of the cheapest microphones plug into your computer’s soundcard using the microphone socket.
However we found that USB microphones were the easiest to install and offered very good quality for their price. A USB microphone can be purchased for around £20.