- Record and edit the audio file
- Add ID Tags to it
- Provide an RSS feed for subscribers
- Provide show notes
- Provide the means for listeners to comment or ask questions (optional).
Record/Edit: Audacity
I've used Audacity since day one. Part of the reason is because I create my podcasts entirely on Linux which really narrows the selection of software available, but even if I had more choice I would likely pick Audacity anyhow. It's very well made, mature and works well. About the only feature that I wish Audacity has was a function that allowed me to cue tracks. I'd love to have all my sweepers and bumpers lined up and just hit a button when I wanted them to play. Alas, no such feature exists in Audacity. I tried to try Sweep, another Linux audio editor, but I haven't been able to get it to run on any Linux platform that I've tried.
Hosting/Blog: Loudblog and Wordpress
I've never used Wordpress for podcasting, but I've used it extensively for plain old blogging. It's quite mature and very good as blogware. I've heard mixed reviews of it as 'podcastware'. Some people claim that it sometimes fails to create the all important enclosure element around the media file. Still others claim that it works fine when using the Podpress plugin.
Loudblog is my podcastware application of choice. I'm currently using it to host The JaK Attack! and it's behaved very well. Unlike general blogware, Loudblog was built from the ground up to host podcasts. It has built in uploading and tagging functionality as well as stats broken out by direct download, feed, and inline Flash player. I'm a big fan of Loudblog.
The list on Podcasting News is far from complete (obvious hosts like Libsyn are missing), but it's a pretty good starting point.
