Built by long-time podcaster and developer Dan Benjamin, using the years of experience he gained running 5by5.tv (both content and infrastructure), Fireside is a solid service for those who take their podcast seriously.

Along with audio hosting, analytics and a website for your podcast, Fireside also provides rich show notes, allowing for the addition of host and guest bios, and a blog. If your podcast has multiple hosts who aren’t on every episode, you can specify the hosts that appear on a per-episode basis, and visitors to your website can see who hosted which ones.

For Benjamin, podcasting means going live-to-tape, and having show notes with lots of links, so Fireside has tools that make it easy to gather links to the topics you discuss, while you record.

If you’re relatively new to podcasting, or you just like badges, there’s a lightly gamified element to the Fireside content management system, that lets you earn achievements for reaching important milestones.

RSS.com bills itself as an easy way to upload and manage podcasts. The service offers one-click submission to several podcast directories, and partners with Podcorn to provide customers with access to sponsorship opportunities.

Chief among the benefits for new podcasters with only one show is there is essentially one price to pay, forever. Their “all-in-one” plan offers unlimited downloads, but customers pay per podcast, and there isn’t a way to manage multiple podcasts under the same account.