Podcasting since December of 2004, more than once I’ve thought of a podcasting “dream” device. It would be a small hand-held all-in-one device that would allow me to produce the perfect podcast and upload it and post it with a single tap of a button.
This perfect integrated podcasting device doesn’t exist as of yet, but with Blogtalkradio.Com’s free CinchCast iOS/iPod/iPad/iPhone app, the ideal software/hardware solution is closer than ever to actually meeting my dream for the ideal podcasting solution.
CinchCast is a free app available for download in the iOS App Store. Once installed, in order to use the software one must create a free account at CinchCast.Com. After the free account is created, it becomes possible to record audio from within the CinchCast application. Once you have finished making your recording, simply go to the next step and type in what you were talking about. The remaining and final step is to automatically upload your recording to the CinchCast server, where a real podcast is automatically created with an RSS feed.
CinchCast iOS Beta uses the built-in iPod Touch 4 microphone. The recording quality is decent, but the 64kbps bit rate the app uses is not adjustable. On the other hand, recording at 64kbps in mono results in compact MP3 file sizes.
The iPod Touch itself has a surprisingly good built-in microphone which works extremely well in quiet areas. However, trying to record audio in a moving vehicle is likely to result in heavily distorted recordings because of the deep bass frequencies generated by the tires moving against the pavement so depending on the microphone you are using be forewarned.
Of course, CinchCast iOS Beta has no way to play or incorporate pre-recorded audio clips or jingles. CinchCast excels in allowing one to record and immediately upload a podcast MP3 file with just a few taps on your iPod/iPad/iPhone/iOS device.