When it comes to web hosting for podcasts, a lot of this specialized hosting field has yet to be figured out.  Sure, you have your specialized plugins, content management systems made for podcasting, and a better understanding of it around the world.  When push comes to shove though, which is better, hosting everything from one place, or splitting your web hosting up between a shared host and a specialized audio hosting service?

That is just about the question Charley posed to me the other day:

In your opinion, is it preferable to have your blog and podcast mp3s hosted on the same server, or would it be better to keep the audio files with one host, and the web site files with another host?

For many years, I did this very podcast in a two host setup.

I was using Blogware as my blogging engine, then donated hosting space from a friend to host the audio files from.  Back then, there weren’t a lot of dedicated podcast hosting solutions, and the whole process was new to all of us, I think.  Of course now I host both the audio files and the web site files in the same place.  So being one who has done it both ways, let me tell you which method is best.

Let Your Wallet Have It’s Say

For the most part, you should do whatever set up is best for your wallet at the time.  You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars in the effort to look like a professional.  Go for the cheapest setup that works best for you.  So with that said the “all in one” hosting would be my choice out of the two.

Now, that is not to say that specialized podcast hosting, like they provide at libsyn, does not have its place.  You might find your web site host is giving you issues after a hundred episodes or so, due to the fact that your using up so much disk space and bandwidth for those files.  In that case it might be better off going with somebody who specializes in hosting your audio files for you.

So if you can get away with getting started on a shared hosting plan at any web host out there, I would do it – however if they give you fits, then moving to a specialized podcast host would be the next best route before moving into something like VPS or dedicated hosting.

Thanks to Charley for the excellent question – and be sure to check out his podcast – Cross Driven Radio.

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