Riverside.fm clips vs PodClips review
Wondering whether to use Riverside.fm Clips or PodClips for sharing your podcast highlights?
Wondering whether to use Riverside.fm Clips or PodClips for sharing your podcast highlights? Both tools promise to help you grow your audience with shareable content, but they work in different ways. Riverside.fm offers clip creation built right into their recording platform, while PodClips specializes in turning any podcast into viral-worthy snippets. In this side-by-side review, I’ll compare these popular tools on ease of use, features, pricing, and how well they actually help spread your content across social media. Let’s find out which clip creator deserves a spot in your podcasting toolkit and will best help new listeners discover your show!
Step by Step Guide: Comparing Riverside.fm Clips vs PodClips
Step 1: Sign Up for Both Platforms
- Creating a Riverside.fm account:
- Go to www.riverside.fm in your web browser
- Click the “Sign Up” or “Get Started” button
- Enter your email address and create a password
- Choose a subscription plan (they offer free, basic, and professional options)
- Provide payment information if selecting a paid plan
- Complete profile setup with your name and podcast information
- Verify your email address if required
- Creating a PodClips account:
- Visit www.podclips.com on your web browser
- Click “Sign Up” at the top of the page
- Create an account with your email or through Google/Facebook
- Fill out your profile with name and profile picture
- Follow the onboarding process to set up your account
- Accept terms of service and privacy policy
- Remember login information for both platforms
- Bookmark both sites for easy access during testing
Step 2: Set Up Your Podcast in Both Systems
- Adding your podcast to Riverside.fm:
- Log into your Riverside.fm dashboard
- Look for “Settings” or “Podcast Settings”
- Enter your podcast name, description, and cover art
- Add website and social media links
- Configure default recording settings if needed
- Adding your podcast to PodClips:
- Log into your PodClips account
- Navigate to your profile or dashboard
- Look for “Add Podcast” or “Claim Podcast” option
- Search for your podcast by name
- If found, follow the verification steps to claim ownership
- If not found, you may need to provide your RSS feed URL
- Complete any verification process (may include email confirmation)
- Double-check that your podcast information appears correctly on both platforms
- Note how easy or difficult each setup process was
Step 3: Record a Test Episode on Riverside.fm
- Setting up a new recording:
- Log into your Riverside.fm dashboard
- Click “New Studio” or “Create New Recording”
- Name your recording session
- Set up audio and video preferences
- Invite a guest for testing (if available) via email or link
- Join the recording studio
- Test your equipment:
- Check that your microphone is selected correctly
- Verify your camera works if recording video
- Adjust audio levels to optimal recording volume
- Test headphones to ensure you can hear properly
- Record a 5-10 minute test conversation:
- Include different speaking segments and topics
- Create some highlight-worthy moments
- Ask and answer questions
- Share some interesting facts or stories
- Vary your speaking pace and energy
- End the recording when finished
- Wait for processing to complete
- Download the full recording to your computer
Step 4: Upload External Audio to PodClips
- Preparing your audio file:
- Use the recording from Riverside.fm or another podcast episode
- Make sure it’s in MP3 or WAV format
- Ensure the file is under any size limits
- Uploading to PodClips:
- Log into your PodClips account
- Navigate to your podcast profile
- Look for “Upload Episode” or similar option
- Select your audio file from your computer
- Add episode title, description, and publish date
- Include any relevant tags or categories
- Complete the upload process
- Wait for processing to complete
- Verify the episode appears on your podcast profile
- Note any limitations or issues encountered during upload
Step 5: Create Clips with Riverside.fm Clips Feature
- Accessing the Clips feature:
- Log into your Riverside.fm dashboard
- Find your recorded episode
- Look for the “Clips” or “Create Clip” option
- Click to open the clip editor
- Creating your first clip:
- Play through your recording to find an interesting moment
- Mark the start point of your clip (where you want it to begin)
- Mark the end point (where you want it to finish)
- Aim for a 30-60 second segment that stands alone well
- Preview your selection to ensure clean start/end points
- Enhance your clip:
- Add a title that captures the main point
- Choose a template or visual style
- Select your preferred aspect ratio (9:16 for vertical, 16:9 for horizontal, 1:1 for square)
- Enable or customize captions
- Add your podcast branding elements
- Include background colors or images if available
- Preview the final clip
- Save or export your clip
- Create 2-3 more clips using different moments from your recording
- Note how long the process takes from selection to finished clip
Step 6: Create Clips with PodClips
- Finding clip-worthy moments:
- Navigate to your uploaded episode on PodClips
- Use the player to listen to your content
- Identify 3-4 interesting segments to clip
- Creating your first clip:
- Find the clip creation tool (usually a scissors icon or “Create Clip” button)
- Play to the starting point of your desired clip
- Mark the start time
- Play to the end point of your desired segment
- Mark the end time
- Preview the selection to ensure it captures the full thought
- Enhancing your PodClips clip:
- Add a compelling title
- Write a brief description
- Add relevant tags for discoverability
- Include any custom options available
- Publish or save the clip
- Create 2-3 additional clips from different parts of your episode
- Time how long it takes to create each clip
- Note any unique features of the PodClips clipping process
Step 7: Compare Clip Customization Options
- Evaluate Riverside.fm customization:
- Count the number of templates available
- Check video aspect ratio options
- Review text customization (fonts, colors, sizes)
- Look for branding options (logo placement, colors)
- Test caption styling options
- Note any animation capabilities
- Check for waveform visualization styles
- Look for background customization options
- Evaluate PodClips customization:
- Check what visual elements can be adjusted
- Test any templates or themes available
- Review text and caption options
- Look for branding features
- Note background customization possibilities
- Check for waveform or audio visualization options
- Create similar clips on both platforms
- Use the same audio segment
- Apply similar styling when possible
- Create for the same target platform (e.g., Instagram)
- Compare the final visual appeal of clips from each platform
- Note which platform offers more flexibility
Step 8: Test Transcription and Caption Quality
- Review Riverside.fm transcription:
- Check if transcription is automatic or manual
- Note how long transcription takes to generate
- Read through transcript and count errors
- Check speaker identification accuracy
- Test editing capabilities for fixing transcript errors
- See if timestamps are included
- Check support for different languages
- Review PodClips transcription:
- Note if transcription is available
- Check accuracy of generated text
- Count errors per minute of audio
- Test editing capabilities for the transcript
- Check speaker labeling
- Look for timestamp features
- Compare caption appearance on both platforms
- Readability of text
- Positioning options
- Style and formatting choices
- Sync accuracy with audio
- Calculate approximate error rate for each platform
- Determine which platform has better transcription
Step 9: Compare Sharing and Distribution Options
- Test Riverside.fm sharing capabilities:
- Look for direct social media sharing
- Test downloading options (formats, quality settings)
- Check for scheduling features
- Look for embedding options for websites
- Test link sharing capabilities
- See if there’s a clip library for organization
- Test PodClips sharing capabilities:
- Check social media integration
- Test download options
- Look for embed codes for websites or blogs
- Check for email sharing
- Test link generation and sharing
- Look for scheduling capabilities
- See how clips are organized in your library
- Try sharing to these platforms from both tools:
- Twitter/X
- Instagram (feed and stories)
Conclusion
Both Riverside.fm Clips and PodClips bring unique strengths to the table for content creators. Riverside.fm Clips excels with its high-quality video creation and seamless integration with its recording platform, while PodClips stands out with its user-friendly interface and social sharing features.
If you’re already using Riverside.fm for recording, their clips feature might be the natural choice for a streamlined workflow. However, if you’re looking for a dedicated clips tool with strong community features and don’t need studio-quality recording, PodClips could be your better option.
Cost-wise, consider that Riverside.fm comes as part of a larger package, while PodClips offers a more focused, clips-only solution. Your budget and whether you need the additional recording features should guide your decision.
The best choice depends on your specific needs - there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Try both platforms’ free versions first, and choose the one that better fits your content creation style and goals. Remember, the tool that helps you consistently create and share content is the right one for you.
Ready to grow your podcast audience without spending hours on manual editing? PodClips uses AI to automatically turn your long-form episodes into dozens of social-ready video clips, complete with captions, b-roll, and optimized formatting for TikTok and Instagram. Stop editing and start growing. Try PodClips today and get your first clips in minutes.