Maneela K.CBefore jumping right into the WordPress podcast plugin, remember the old times? I mean the time when we had to gather around our television or radio set at a specific time just to make sure that we don’t miss our favorite show. Well, the time has changed and so has the technology. And all thanks to Podcast and Podcasting, we now don’t have to worry about the show times.
Podcasting began catching the hold of general people since the very beginning of its establishment. Thus, Podcasting has been one of the growing trends in the last few decades and is now in the limelight. However, adding a podcast to your website has never been an easy feat. In fact, it can be so much brainstorming for some people. But why worry when WordPress has your back 😉
Yes you had me right! WordPress and Podcasting, they go hand-in-hand. Thus, WordPress Community has developed the number of podcast plugins as an incredible addition to the WordPress treasure.Furthermore, WordPress audio player and Podcast WordPress plugins happen to be the great tools for skipping all the hectic procedures to integrate podcasts on the websites. Just to ease up the things, even more, we have handpicked five of the top-notch podcasting plugins for you to consider.
What is Podcasting?
The term “Podcasting” is the combination of two words: iPod and broadcasting. However, you do not need to tune in to a particular broadcast and need an iPod to listen to a podcast.In the same manner, podcasting is the combination of blogging with digital audio technology. In simple terms, podcasting is distributing audio and video contents through a feed which the listeners can subscribe.
Chief analyst of next market Insights, Micheal Wolf, who is also a renowned podcaster finds podcasting as less crowded content channel than blogging. In fact, listeners tend to have more in-depth engagement with podcasts than the blog contents. Thus, it can also be one of the best forms of social media marketing as well.
There are some significant reasons behind the rapidly growing popularity of Podcasting. Firstly, it doesn’t need any satellites, radio tower or a studio to create one. All they need is the necessary stuff for the recording like microphone, computer, and a video camera and a web connection. Next thing, users can easily subscribe to their favorite show. Hence, showtime is not a problem anymore. One can watch their favorite show anytime, anywhere. Unlike the internet, listeners are the ones who decide which program they like to listen to and at what time. And the third one is its portability. You can download podcasts on any portable devices and it works perfectly well on all kinds of devices.
Let’s check out on the plugins in detail…
1. Blubrry PowerPress (Free)
With 65,000 active installs , Blubrry is undoubtedly one of the most popular and best WordPress podcast plugins so far. Moreover, this podcast plugin comes loaded with more than 100 intriguing features. Thus, it is convenient and helps with boasts audio and video options along with subscription tools, integrated media players and full Google play support. With this plugin, you can post the MP3 file to your WordPress directly and quickly change it into a podcast host. Moreover, it allows you to edit the podcast episodes with ease and offers migration tools.
Pros:
- Simple and advanced modes.
- Full iTunes and Google Play support
- Integrated HTML5 media players and Subscriber tools.
- Podcasting SEO functionality.
- Podcast Importing
Cons:
- Advanced statistics and some features are available to only paying subscribers.
2. Seriously Simple Podcasting (Free)
Seriously simple podcasting is another WordPress podcast plugin which like its name allows you to add podcasts to your website in the simplest way possible. This podcast WordPress plugin allows you to edit the podcast feed details like the title, category, and author from the plugin’s admin panel easily. Besides, short-codes and multiple widgets available to display podcast episode lists as well as single episode in that space of the website where you think is most suitable.
Pros:
- Run multiple series of podcasts on a single site
- Beautifully Designed Media Player
- Library of Add-ons
- Supports both audio and video podcasting
- Password protection for Private Podcasts.
Cons:
- Password protection features work only when you disable FastCGI from the web server.
3. Libsyn Podcast Plugin (Premium)
Libsyn is one of the most renowned podcast hosting solution amongst the WordPress podcast plugins available. This plugin makes it a breeze to create episodes, create drafts for a theme and to schedule the posts as well. Best of all, you can simply upload your media files to Libsyn account directly from WordPress. The media files or your podcasts will still be hosted with Libsyn. Thus, all of your podcasts along with the RSS feeds will be generated and automatically updated to the Libsyn’s servers rather than your website. That means, your media files and RSS feeds will not be affected by your web hosting server.
Pros:
- Availability of Podcast directory to list down the subscriber’s podcasts.
- Optimized hosting for audio and video podcast distribution.
- Single click multiple destination publishing with OnPublish.
- Custom mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows devices.
Cons:
- It is in public beta. Thus, there might be some bugs which may prevent the plugin from being used.
Price: Begins at $5 per month.
4. Podlove Podcast Publisher (Free)
Podlove is yet another feature-rich yet straightforward powerful plugin that we have on our list. This plugin has been solely developed keeping WordPress in mind. Furthermore, this easy to use plugin comes loaded with impressive features.Subscription tools and detailed analytics are some major highlights of this plugin. However, template system available in Podlove makes this WordPress podcast plugin stand out from all others. Moreover, it allows you to host your MP3 shows on the same server as that of your WordPress installation. Great, isn’t it?
Pros:
- Super compatible podcast feeds along with detailed control over clients behavior.
- Optimized Web player and flexible templates.
- Multi-format publishing that includes support for legacy audio and video codecs.
- Powerful analytics and free statistics accessible from the dashboard.
- Chapter support for managing episodes.
Cons:
- Unavailability of options to fetch the episodes from the podcast feed.
- Files are to be uploaded individually using a single upload directory.
5. Smart Podcast Player (Premium)
Smart Podcast player is one the fascinating and incredibly comprehensive WordPress podcast player developed by Pat Flynn. Some of the most notable features of this plugin are its library display settings, direct downloads, beautiful design options, and playback slowing. The best thing about this plugin is that your podcasts can be streamed directly from the player without having you to integrate it thoroughly into the backend. Furthermore, it also offers a stunning color palette allowing you to change the color of your audio tracks.
Pros:
- It allows you to capture your listener’s email addresses.
- With this plugin, you can speed up and slow down playback.
- The library is automatically updated.
- Episodes can be streamed and downloaded directly from the podcast player itself.
- Feeds supported from all major formats including Libsyn and SoundCloud.
Cons:
- Advanced options come only with the yearly or monthly subscription.
- Supports.MP3 audio format only.
Price: $97/year or $12/month
In Conclusion
A podcast is one of the most widely used methods of social media marketing and is quite useful. Unlike radio programs, you never have to miss any part of it and thus has provided the ease of access to the WordPress users worldwide. Not only can you create episodes and very different sections throughout your podcasts, you can even allow the users to download it directly onto any sort of devices.
I understand publishing podcasts can be quite a challenge. But these WordPress podcast plugins will make the task far less complicated. Thus, I have outlined the overall uses and the best WordPress podcast plugins for you to use and we hope this article was able to answer all of your queries! If you still have any more questions feel free to ask us down in the comment section. Tell us what worked best for you!
If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out our other WordPress related articles through the links down below.
- 15+ Best WordPress Plugins
- The Ultimate Collection of Best WordPress Translation Plugins
- Why Your Standard WordPress SEO-Plugin Doesn’t Work Anymore
Actually I wouldn’t say .mp3 is a bad thing. Most podcasts are uploaded as a .mp3 over the other audio choices. I would only say it’s bad if you do a video podcast. I remember my early days as a podcaster uploaded in .wav so I used up about 110MB of my 1GB upload limit from one show. Then went back in my recorder and exported it as a .mp3 came out to about 50ish MB file. Not a but loss in audio compression.
I do however agree with the order. Powerpress is by far the best podcast plugin out there. I use to go to Seriously Simple Podcasting until I tried Powerpress.
Hello Shawn,
Thank you for your comments. It means a lot 🙂
Very well structured and informative article. I am using this website for all my website related work.
Its charm i recommend this site for greater knowledge..
Thank you for your kind words Mackey! So glad we could help you 🙂