Technical Specifications
There are lots of right ways to export .mp3 files. And, as of right now, none of them matter except for ours. Please don’t ask us to make exceptions. We won’t. The specs below are set to ensure that your .mp3 files are compatible with all the other files across our network. If you’re doing something different for other distribution services, that’s fine. But you’ll need to go back to your master files and encode, tag, and name a new set of .mp3 files to our specifications before submitting episodes to Podiobooks.com.
And if you don’t understand what I’m asking for below, then you may be jumping ahead. Grab a book on how to create .mp3 files. Any good podcasting how-to book will cover it in detail.
Encoding Settings
Please note that Joint Stereo is neither Mono nor plain old stereo. Joint Stereo, please.
ID3 Tags
It’s easiest if I provide an example of completed tags.
- NAME (also called TITLE): You can choose whatever name you want for a specific media file. But, so that it doesn’t get confusing, I suggest using a short name for your book (one word or an abbreviation) and then a double-digit sequential order of the episode in question. This helps people find your episode(s) inside their larger list of episodes from multiple sources.
- ARTIST: The name of the author or person who gets the main credit for the book. Do not change this from episode to episode. Make sure your capitalization and punctuation stay consistent across episodes. If you are submitting a compilation, use the name of the compiler, not the individual author of the content in the episode. Media libraries on your computer or mobile device often will use this field to group files, so be consistent.
- ALBUM: The full title of your book. Note that this may be different than the shortened or abbreviated version you are using in the NAME field. Make sure you keep the same capitalization and punctuation across all episodes. Not doing so looks sloppy.
- TRACK: The sequential number of an episode, starting at 1. This should match the number used in the NAME field, if you took my suggestion. You should also enter the total number of episodes in the “of” field that accompanies track number, assuming your ID3 tagging program supports it. If that’s confusing, it won’t be when you’re ready to tag episodes.
- YEAR: Set this to the current year that the serialized audio book version was released. It’s likely the same calendar year in which you upload the file.
- GENRE: Always set this field to “Podcast”, as the episodes are primarily delivered via the podcasting mechanism. It’s not a perfect label, but it’s where we live today.
- ARTWORK: Every episode of your book should contain embedded artwork. That artwork is likely going to be the cover of your book, but you may choose something else. Please embed images no larger than 300x300 at a resolution of 72ppi. Going larger or higher quality simply increases the size of the media file for no good reason.
I again stress the importance of filling out the above-mentioned ID3 tags exactly as outlined. Failure to do so will result in the rejection of your initial episode, delaying your continued production and eventual launch on Podiobooks.com. Not good. And it makes me cranky.
Note: Any other ID3 tags you see in your tag editor that are not mentioned above are optional. Fill them out or leave them blank if you like. It’s your choice.
Filename Convention
Now that you have your file properly encoded to our settings, ensured it’s been properly ID3 tagged, and you’ve embedded artwork for your episode, it’s time to name your files the proper way. We use this format:
Here’s how to decipher that:
- PB: This signifies the file is a part of Podiobooks.com and helps keep our files together in playlists or portable media players. -: The dash is used as a separator of the elements making up the name. No spaces, please. And no underscores or other potential separators. Dashes (hyphens) only.
- [ShortTitleOfYourBook]: If your book has a short name, use the whole thing. But if it gets large, shorten it. You may opt to use the shortened version you used when filling out the NAME ID3 tag. Capitalize the first letter of each word, and run them together. Spaces cause all sorts of problems with filenames, so don’t even think about it. Also, don’t use any “funny” characters. Stick with A-Z and 1-9.
- [##]: This is the sequential number of your series of episodes. It starts with “01” and it increases in whole number increments until you reach the final episode of your title. Even if you have chapters 1, 2 and 3 all included in one file, you’ll still call the first one “01”. If your first complete episode is a prologue or introduction, you will still name the very first file “01”. It’s an episode number, not a chapter number (though they can be and often are the same).
Following this naming convention, your mp3 files’ names will look like one of these:
Remember, start at 01 and increment. Always.