What is podcasting?
Podcasting, as a medium of transmission, first made its appearance as early as the year 2000. Let us understand what is a podcast. It is nothing but digital recording of radio programs. A podcast is essentialy a multimedia file made available to users through the Internet for use on their personal computers or mobile devices like cell phones, MP3 players and iPods.You can easily download the content from the podcasting website if you use devices compatible with RSS or Atom data feed formats.
Radio Userland made the first podcast in 2001.Today all major websites host pod casts and you have a growing list of podcasting enthusiasts dedicated to generating a variety of podcasts for your listening pleasure. Ben Hammersley first used the term podcasting in an article in the Guardian in 2004.
Working of a podcast
A pod cast works on a subcription model where there is an information provider who distributes the content and a subscriber . The content provider gives information on a wide variety of topics and the subscriber can choose relevant content as per his requirements. Subscribers hear a sample of the podcast before they decide to subscribe to it.They can search online podcast directories for relevant data. Moreover recent studies reveal that a majority of the podcasts remain on the personal computer of the subscriber and not his mp3 player.
The content may be text based, audio, video or images. The content provider first loads the file on a server on the Internet. He creates a reference for it on another file known as the feed . A feed is nothing but a list of the URL addresses in RSS format. It contains details of all episodes of the podcast with a short description of each. A podcast can have a single or multiple content providers. When the subscriber selects a file, he downloads XML files with their URL address from this server. To download the feed he must have the necessary software termed podcast aggregator to receive and manage the podcasts.
A podcast receiver is always running on your computer and it will check for the latest updates on your favorite podcasts at regular intervals.It manages the data from subscription to various channels and downloads the latest items to your computer or Mp3 player.You can then store, or play the files as per your convenience. The most common example of podcasting is downloading iTunes to your iPod.
Types of podcasting
As the podcasting community grows by leaps and bounds podcasting evolves to cater to different mobile devices. Common types of podcasting based on modes of distribution are audio and video podcasting and MMS podcasting for mobiles. Podcasting distributed over mobile phones is mobilecast, and over a fixed line phone is a voicecast. Some podcasters distribute over a live stream to save the bandwidth. This is known as peercasting and listeners can then redistribute the podcast to other interested parties. Mobile phone users can even receive podcast via MMS.
Podcasting can take other forms like blogs, audiobooks and spread social messages. Audio podcasting can include the use of phone, voice software like Skype or live interactive audio as in a chat .Video podcasting can include the use of images, videos or video recordings.
Uses of podcasting
Podcasting has grown from providing a source of entertainment for an individual to becoming a medium with social utility. Podcasting works rather well in distributing urgent messages in a community and in setting up conferences. People also use it for soundseeing tours of museums and distributing school lessons among students.