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Podcast

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The term podcasting plays upon the terms broadcasting and webcasting and is derived from the name of the iPod portable music player, the playback device of choice of many early podcast listeners. While not directly associated with Apple's iPod device or iTunes jukebox software, the company did contribute both the desire and the technology for this capability. Podcasting is similar to time-shifted video software and devices like TiVo, which let you watch what you want when you want by recording and storing video, except that podcasting is used for audio and is currently free of charge. Note, however, that this technology can be used to pull any kind of file, including software updates, pictures, and videos.

In short, podcasting involves the recording of internet radio or similar internet audio programs. These recordings are then made available for download to your iPod or other portable digital audio device. You can listen to the podcast internet radio program while you are away from your computer or at a different time than the original program was broadcast.

History

The term podcasting was invented by Mac Harris in the article"Audible Revolution" from the February 12 2004 edition of The Guardian, used in context by Dannie J. Gregoire [1] and made popular by former MTV VJ and Dutch weblogger Adam Curry's original [2]ipodder script. RSS pioneer Dave Winer describes succinctly the technology used to pull digital audio (e.g., especially MP3) files from websites down to computers and devices where the audio can be played back at a listener's convenience. The recovery of MP3 links from distributed weblogs and distribution of the aggregated list using RSS had been demonstrated by Stephen Downes's [3] Ed Radio [4], launched June 9, 2004. Podcasting was developed, according to Curry[5] in August, 2004.

A service identical to podcasting was developed by one of the first manufacturers of MP3 portables back in 2000. As MP3 Newswire briefly described in its September 2000 review of the I2Go Ego, the company introduced a free service called MyAudio2Go.com that created daily audio news feeds that could be dowloaded to the Ego portable or any other MP3 player. The service succumbed when the I2Go company folded during the dotcom crash. Archive.org has an August 2000 snapshot of the MyAudio2Go site.

Adding to a number of ad hoc, proto-podcasting techniques for automatically downloading audio files, podcasting proper became popular through association with blogs (in particular MP3 blogs), the XML-based file format called RSS (Really Simple Syndication or RDF Site Summary), and the polling applications called feed readers or news readers that poll and download RSS files.

Blogs, often being self-published websites, provided a convenient means for individuals to self-publish audio files online. RSS already gave websites and blogs a means to summarize or list new content added to the site. Individuals already used RSS to poll websites for new content. Thus, the addition of audio file listings to RSS, and the addition of audio file downloading to RSS feed readers built upon the feed reader's existing methods for polling and downloading files, and upon the existing "reader driven" interaction with content publishers.

Comparison to broadcasting and webcasting

Podcasting is different from broadcasting and webcasting in that it "casts" audio not by a mechanism of centrally pushing audio out to listeners, but by the mechanism of the (distributed) listeners pulling (downloading) the audio files automatically. Podcasters publish (or "podcast") audio files, even in the likeness of radio shows, but it is the individual listener who initiates the "cast" through their subscription and automatic download of the audio program.

Podcasting also utilizes the combination of audio files and RSS to publish descriptive data and metadata associated with the audio. RSS files used in podcasting include dates, titles, descriptions, and links to audio files. These links to audio files within RSS, which are used by podcasting applications, are defined by the RSS enclosure element, supported by RSS 2.0 and RSS 1.x. The enclosure element originated in RSS 2.0, and all of the original podcasting proper applications were built to work with RSS 2.0 specifically.

Information

Software

  • Nimiq: for Windows
  • CITA RSS Aggregator. An RSS Aggregator capable of downloading Podcasts and BitTorrents.
  • iPodderX. iPodderX, podcast receiver for the Mac. Handles audio, video, and still images.
  • Jäger. An RSS aggregator with podcast reception for Windows, Mac and Linux.
  • jPodder: for Windows
  • Podcast icons: for feeds and individual audio files
  • bashpodder: Podcast client for Linux
  • Doppler: Podcast client for Windows
  • iPodder. iPodder. The cross-platform podcast receiver (Windows / Mac / Linux).

Directories

Blogs

HOW-TO

Proto-podcasting

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