Podcasting. April 15, 2009

Among all of the new technologies available to us these days, podcasting is another social tool that is up and coming within society. A formal definition of a podcast is, a series or digital media files, usually digital audio or video, that is made available for download, via Web syndication. Like the term broadcast, podcast can refer either to the content itself or to the method by which the content is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting. A podcaster is the person who creates the content. Interestingly, the term podcast was originated from Apple´s product the Ipod. Amongst the world wide web, there are numerous amounts of websites that one can go to in order to find and view other people´s podcasts. An example of this can be found at this website.

Many people are under the impression that you need an Ipod to podcast–this is VERY untrue! You can use programs such as Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, or any brand of MP3. Some people have even been known to download the podcasts, burn them to CD and play them in their car stereo, home stereo or portable CD player.

There is also a term called a ¨podcatcher¨ which is software that allows you to subscribe to your favorite podcasts using their RSS feed.
When new content or episodes are available, your podcatcher will automatically download them for you, and then you’re ready to listen to them on your computer or transfer them to your MP3 player! Here is a website that gives you step-by-step directions as to how use this tool.