If the question you were thinking of is not listed in the F.A.Q., you can send us an email and submit a new question to the F.A.Q. Remember: There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.

1. WTF is a podcast?
2. Who the hell are you?
3. How do I download the shows?
4. How often are they recorded?
5. How can I leave a comment for Spine Radio?
6. Can I use parts of your show for my own uses?
7. What equipment do you use to create Spine Radio?

Think about radio. There are shows on the radio that typically repeat daily or weekly. Sometimes you can't catch your favourite shows because you're busy, or your dog shit itself or something. Imagine if you could subscribe to a radio show as easily as you could a magazine. It would arrive at your door, and you could read it at your convinience. That's what podcasting does for radio.

Using the appropriate application (See "How do I download the shows?", part (b)) you can have audio (and sometimes video!) programs delivered to your computer's hard drive automatically. You can listen to them whenever you want. Spiffy!

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I am Steve, a 29-year-old software developer from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I run the Spine.cx website and this podcast, Spine Radio. Most of the time, I am accompanied by Jeannine.

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There are two ways to download Spine Radio (or any other podcast). One is really easy, but you have to do it every time a new show comes out. The other is slightly more complicated, but you only ever have to do it once, and all the shows are automatically downloaded to your computer whenever they come out. Not to mention the fact that you can tell all your friends that you use RSS feeds. RSS is the new "cool".

(a) The easy way. Just download it.

Go to the Spine Radio's blog and right-click on the "Podcast" image, or where it says "Download podcast". Select "Save as" or whatever option your browser has that's similar to that, and save the MP3 to your hard drive.

Simple, right?

(b) The slightly more complex way. Install an RSS reader/aggregator.

I know big words like "aggregator" and "install" scare some people, but it's really not that bad.

An aggregator is just an application that periodically checks an RSS feed. Did I mention that RSS is the new hotness? If you install an aggregator that understands the <enclosure> tag and can automatically download the URL in the <enclosure> tag, such as the Juice Receiver (the one I use) then you're halfway there.

Once you've got an aggregator installed, you just need to point it at the RSS feed (hotness)and it will start automatically downloading the shows. You never have to check for a new show again because they will have been automatically downloaded for you.

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Spine Radio is recorded approximately once a week. Give or take.

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You can leave a comment for SpineRadio by emailing theShow@spineradio.com or by calling Spine Radio's comment line at (902) 482-3296.

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Sure! As long as you properly credit Spine Radio as the place where you got it, and link back here.

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When I started, I was using completely borrowed gear: A decent dyamic mic (Dixon MD1178), a dollar-store mic, and a DJ-style mixer, all borrowed from my brother. I've since went out and bought stuff of my own:

Beheringer UB1204fx Pro I wanted to have the ability to have 4 mics going at once, and this was the cheapest mixer I could find that would do the trick. Well, there is one without the digital effects that was cheaper, but I thought they were neat.

MXL 990 I took a cue from lots of other podcasters out there and bought this mic. I have to say that I'm very happy with it. I bought another condenser mic a little later on. It's an Audio Technica AT2020

SoundBlaster Audigy 2 NX My laptop has no line-level input (just a mic-in), so I had to go with an external sound card. I went with the USB2 version rather than the PCMCIA card, because I wanted to be able to use it on a desktop machine if the need ever arose. It hasn't yet.

Behringer Multicom Pro-XL MDX4600. I bought a compressor/limiter so Jeannine could yell and it wouldn't blow out the levels all to hell. It seems to work well. I only really needed a two channel model, but I got this one on Ebay for a good price.

After gathering up all those pieces of equipment, I think I am producing a podcast that sounds pretty damn good, even if I do say so myself :) Content? Well that's another matter altogether.

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