Podcasting is nothing but the broadcasting of programs that are only available over the Internet and that through only with the help of subscription feeds of which RSS or Rich Site Summary is a good example. These broadcasted programs can then be played on your MP3 player or even iPod and you only need to subscribe to the feed in order to listen to the podcasts on your personal computer rather than having to transfer the feed to your audio player. The latest in podcasting is that you can also get video signals and that in turn means that cell phones with video features can receive as well as play the podcasts that incorporate video feeds.
Adam Curry: Podcasting Pioneer
The man behind the concept of podcasting is none other than a one-time VJ with MTV – Adam Curry. From the time that podcasting first began in the year 2004 till the present its popularity has soared and all the main networks as well as radio shows are making their material available to anyone that is interested in podcasting. In the month of February in 2005 there were, according to USA Today, more than three thousand three hundred podcasted programs available.
What makes podcasting so attractive is that it gives everyone the opportunity to produce their own shows in the comforts of their homes and as long as you have suitable software and a mic you can get started with podcasting without any hassles and reach an audience that spans the entire global population.
Podcasting programs such as The Dawn and Drew Show are believed to be the most popular and another very popular program is George Burns and Gracie Allen. As for radio programs, KOMO station from Seattle and KFI from Los Angeles as well as WBGH of Boston were the pioneers as far as podcasting went. CBS too has been an early starter while other countries that have been at the forefront of podcasting include Canada and Australia and of course the United Kingdom.
A podcast is very simply just the name for any audio or even video files that are available over the World Wide Web and which are made available through syndication services. In fact, the format of these podcasting files are really virtually the same as formats for any other kind of files available over the Internet; the difference lies in the fact the former are syndicated feeds that can be downloaded automatically which is not the case with normal file formats.