An Introduction to Podcasts
While not technically Web 2.0, podcasting is a phenomenon that began around the Web 2.0 revolution. In recent years I’ve had people ask me what a podcast is and what they’re used for, so in this post I’ll try to clear up some of the confusion surrounding podcasts.
A podcast is simply a media file that is periodically distributed over the Internet to its audience. Most podcasts are similar to a radio show, and the content is either in the style of talk radio or music radio. The podcast is recorded and compressed into an .mp3 file, and sent to the listener via RSS feeds or through a program such as iTunes.
The term ‘podcast’ came about because of the success of Apple’s iPod, although any device that plays .mp3 files will be able to play most podcasts. Because many podcasts are distributed on a daily or weekly basis, podcasts give people new and re-occurring content to listen to.
As an example, lets say I want to subscribe to The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast, available at PBS’s website. I would use iTunes to subscribe to the podcast, and as soon as a new episode became available iTunes would automatically download it and sync it to my iPod. I could then listen to NewsHour while taking the bus to campus, or while working in the library. When the next NewsHour podcast became available, iTunes would again automatically download the episode and put it on my iPod.
There are many different podcasts available today, and iTunes has a great directory containing thousands of podcasts on a wide variety of subjects. You don’t need an iPod to enjoy podcasts, if you’d like you can listen to them from iTunes. Podcasts are a great way to get fresh content on your iPod to listen to, and I recommend that everyone give them a try.