What Is Podcasting?

In a nutshell, podcasting is a World Wide Web based form of broadcasting that allows anyone with a computer and/or a digital media device to download and listen to content. Formed by the combination of the words iPod and broadcasting, podcasting involves the creation of "radio" shows that are not intended to be broadcast over Marconi's invention. Indeed, these podcasts can be downloaded and enjoyed only through access to the World Wide Web. Podcasts can be enjoyed via a media player on your computer (such as RealPlayer or Windows Media Player), or they can be uploaded directly to your digital media device (such as an iPod) for enjoyment anytime and anywhere.

Over the past few years, sales of digital music devices such as Apple's iPod, MP3 players, and even cell phones and Palm Pilots have been soaring to new heights. Indeed, these devices have been finding their way into the pockets and purses of a wide cross-section of the North American public. With these gadgets becoming increasingly cosmopolitan, it was perhaps inevitable that a mass movement away from standard media broadcast methods would occur. After all, what's on the radio might not be what the customer wants to hear at any given time, and most digital media devices don't even have built-in radios. Enter the podcast.

The concept is simplicity itself: Allow users to listen to exactly what they want, when they want, and where they want. With today's world becoming progressively crammed with tasks ranging from doing the dishes to taking the kids to karate class, the ability to time-shift information is increasingly desirable. On the other side of the coin are the folks who want to actually produce podcasts. With little more than a computer, a microphone, and some freeware (or shareware), anyone can produce a podcast on any topic under the sun.

It's a new medium, to be sure, and it is still in its formative years, but podcasting is here to stay. From large corporations looking for new ways to get their programs heard, to home-brewed shows covering a diversity of topics ranging from sports to wine tasting to marital issues and beyond, podcasting is proving that it has the power and flexibility to reshape the media landscape. As the Web site Podcast Alley (Figure 1.1) says, "Free the Airwaves!"

Figure 1.1. Podcast Alley (www.podcastalley.com) is one of the best places to look for the hottest podcasts.

What's in a Name?

Why is podcasting called podcasting and not digital delivery or MP3casting? Well, the emergence of the dominant digital media device has a great deal to do with it. With somewhere around 65 percent of the hard-drive-based MP3 player market, Apple's iPods have taken the niche by storm. It's arguable that iPods are a cultural phenomenon and embodiment of a generation's zeitgeist. With over 10 million iPods on the streets in just a few years of sales, who can argue? For the record, Dannie Gregoire of Louisville, Kentucky, is widely credited with coining the term podcast. Who knows without this gentleman, we might have ended up with a lame moniker such as Intercasting!