Podcasting is one of the biggest hi-tech crazes now combining iPods and self-made music broadcasts. We’ll talk to the authors of “Podcast Solutions” about what Podcasting is and how you can actually listen or make your own cast.
I saw the above news item talked about on the KTLA morning news today. However, for better clarification, go to the Podcasting Wikipedia entry. An excerpt, with the important points in bold:
The word “Podcast” is often incorrectly used to describe the posting of any link to a media-player-compatible audio file (typically MP3) on a website. Some radio personalities post MP3 versions of their shows daily, and even though they are not part of any subscription model, they are often called podcasts.
Most podcatching software enables the user to copy podcasts to portable music players. Any digital audio player or computer with audio-playing software can play podcasts. From the earliest RSS-enclosure tests, feeds have been used to deliver video files as well as audio. By 2005 some aggregators and mobile devices could receive and play video, but the “podcast” name remained most associated with audio.
“Podcasting” is a portmanteau misnomer that combines the words “broadcasting” and “iPod.” The term can be misleading since neither podcasting nor listening to podcasts requires an iPod or any portable player. Also podcasting does not involve broadcasting or sending out of audio, since citizens need to point software to XML-tagged file to pull it down to their computer or portable device.
So, it’s not limited to iPods, okay? That’s what Kurt the Cyberguy missed. Also, you don’t need a book to learn about it. I believe those pages are more than enough information to go from.
iLounge Goodness
Actually, in case you still can’t wrap your head around this, here’s some more links to sift through:
- Understanding the Podcasting Revolution
- Beginner’s Guide to Podcast Creation
- The Complete Guide to iTunes’ Podcasts
Conclusion
If you have an iPod, use iTunes. (That’s what I’m doing right now.) Look for the “Podcasts” section, then click on “Podcast Directory” to find and subscribe to a podcast. If you don’t have an iPod, there’s a huge list of news aggregators. Find one that supports podcasts, then when a podcast is updated, copy the MP3 file to your digital audio player. I know someone that uses Doppler (free) to download podcasts, then burns them to CD for his truck. Before iTunes supported podcasts, I used iPodder Lemon (free). Oh, and you can listen to podcasts just on your computer (if you don’t have a DAP).
I know the audience here, but I figured that if it was on the morning news, people might look more into this. (Plus I was somewhat annoyed – wasn’t thorough enough.) If this entry hits somewhere in the top of some search results, it’ll be worth it.
What am I listening to?
Please note that I probably won’t update this list. But I think these will stick around for awhile. You can always ask me if I added or removed any subscriptions, no problem.
All Narfed Up 