Tips for loading audio and video on MP3 players for training purposes

Many businesses are starting to use podcasts and videocasts for training purposes for their new employees. The reason for this is that it is more cost effective to create your own video or audio files and then upload them yourself to MP3 players. The good news is that most of the software that you are going to need to create the audio and video files you can get for free or little cost on the internet, as well as tips on how to use the software. You can also find the same kind of deals on the software that you are going to need to upload the files to your MP3 players for business training.

Here are some tips that you can follow when loading audio and video files on MP3 players.

Tip one:
While some computers come with a microphone they are a very low quality microphone and will record your audio at a lower quality. Since you want to create better podcasts you should take the time and invest in a decent microphone. The best type of microphone for creating audio or video files is a studio microphone because they are sensitive and low-noise, which means you won't get nearly as many background sounds in your podcast. Studio microphones cost around $100. If you get a studio microphone you should also invest in a preamp box so that you can provide power to your microphone since you can't just hook a studio microphone into your computer directly. The better your audio file sounds when you are recording it the better it will sound when you load it to your MP3 players.

Tip two:
Being that microphones have no filter to help block out noises, actually they tend to pick up all of the sounds you are going to want to have a quiet environment when recording your podcast. Having a quiet background will help cut out the unnecessary noise and it can also save time on editing. Other noises that can be picked up on microphones are fluorescent lights, fans, air conditioners, etc try trying off as many of these appliances that you can or create a room where none of those devices are used. You can also try recording in a closet full of clothes as the clothes will act as a sound barrier or cover your head with a blanket to cut down on the excess noise.

Tip three:
Something that you are going to want to watch closely when you are uploading the files from your computer to MP3 players is the compression ratios, the reason for this that because it can help you save space and audio compression will remove portions of the sound unnecessary to humans. For MP3's you are going to want to set the compression preferences for 128 bit compression so that you get good consistent results, and if you increase the bit rate you are just going to get better performance when uploading the MP3 audio or video files.

Tip four:
After you have installed the podcasting software all you have to do is subscribe to the RSS feed and the software will automatically import the newest podcasts to your computer. That is the great thing about podcatching software, it does everything for you. Also if you are still unsure you can always find tutorials on how to use the software on the various websites.

Tip five:
The best way to find what you are looking for is to look at the file extensions. Videos are usually AVI, WMV, MOV, and DIVX. Flash animations usually end in SWF and music files usually end in MP3. Or you can look at the file size because media files are usually the biggest files on the page. And when you load them on your MP3 player you are going to be exporting these files