Podcasting

Podcasting is a method of distributing multimedia files, (audio programs or music videos), over the Internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats, for playback on mobile devices & personal computers. The term podcast like radio, can mean both content and method of delivery. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. Podcasters web sites may also offer download or streaming of their files a podcast however is distinguished by its ability to be downloaded automatically using software capable of reading RSS or Atom feeds.

A podcatcher is a computer program used to automatically download podcasts. It is a form of aggregator, and can also transfer received files to a portable media player.

"Podcasting" is a portmanteau coined in 2004, combining two words: iPod and broadcasting. Even though the name is a misnomer, as podcasting doesn't require an iPod and no over the air broadcasting is required, it maintained its prominence in the face of alternatives.

The concept of podcasting was suggested as early as 2000 and the technical components were available by the start of 2001, but it wasn't until 2003 that regular podcasts started showing up on well known Web sites. The concept quickly took off and by the end of 2004, thousands of podcasts were available and the term had entered the public domain.

A podcatcher is usually an always on program starting when the computer is started and runs in the background. It manages a set of feed URIs added by the user and downloads each at a specified interval, such as every two hours. If the feed data has substantively changed from when it was previously checked, the program determines the location of the most recent item and automatically downloads it to the user's computer. Some podcatchers, such as iTunes, also automatically make the newly downloaded episodes available to a user's portable media player.

The publish/subscribe model of podcasting is a version of push technology, in that the information provider chooses which files to offer in a feed and subscriber chooses among available feed channels. While the user is not pulling individual files from the Web, there is a strong pull aspect in the receiver is free to subscribe to a vast array of channels. Earlier Internet push services allowed a much more limited selection of content. Usually a podcast features one type of 'show', with new episodes released either sporadically or planned intervals such as daily or weekly. In addition, there are podcast networks that feature multiple shows on the same feed.

An MMS podcast is a podcast show distributed via the Multimedia Messaging Service protocol to mobile phones. The content makes use of MMS features such as being split into random access chapters. The shows can be fetched on demand by the user, or pushed to a user on subscription basis.

Podstreaming, introduced first in February of 2005 by podstreamer.com, is the process of converting streaming radio to a podcast.

A typical podstreamer is configured to record streaming audio on recurring preset schedule, then post a resulting media to a podcast feed.

Phonecasting is an ability to create podcasts by dialing a service with a phone, leaving a message and having the service automatically create a podcast out of the audio file. A blogcast is a melding of two well known media types, the blog and podcast into a single website. Blogcasting's popularity is largely due to the fact audio / visual content is often more popular than textual content, but search engines only scan text, so to make a podcast searchable, it must have a written front end.

VoiceCasting is distribution of audio files, such as radio programs or interviews, directly to a telephone. Audio is taken from a Podcast, and played live to a listener over a voice telephone network. At present, VoiceCasts are usually initiated when a listener dials a phone number associated with a specific Podcast.

List of Phonecasting Services

PhoneCasting, Odeo, Gabcast, Evoca,Hipcast (formerly AudioBlog.com), AudBlog, Voice2Page, PhoneBlogz

News stories

2006 Popular French blogger and internet entrepreneur Loïc Le Meur has posted a podcast on his blog of an interview held with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. This is a first in France; the first time a politician has agreed to be interviewed by a blogger and for the interview to be posted as a podcast on the web. The podcast has received more than 50 000 views on Le Meur's blog, and has also attracted widespread attention in the French blogsphere generally.

2006 Comedian Ricky Gervais: claims to have beaten his own record for the most downloaded podcast ever.
His free weekly podcast landed a place in this year's Guinness Book of World Records with an average of 261,670 downloads per episode.

But that figure rose to 541,329 by the time the first series of The Ricky Gervais Show ended in February. At the start of the second series on 28 February, charges were introduced for the download, at £3.75 for the first six episodes or 95p per instalment.

The BBC, the guardian newspaper seem to be trying to get a major role in the podcast industry.

The Guardian has done podcasting such as Westminster Weekly, The World Cup show (during the soccer cup), Newsdesk special: Bono, Newsdesk - our daily show.

"The BBC was the first British broadcaster to podcast when they made "In Our Time" available last year and this trial will enable them to further explore editorial, technical and distribution issues involved."

The BBC have numerous podcast shows such as

The programmes confirmed so far are:

Today (Radio 4, daily) 8.10am interview

In Business (Radio 4, weekly) Peter Day examines trends and developments in industry and world of work

From Our Own Correspondent (Radio 4, weekly/twice weekly) personal reflections by BBC correspondents around the world

In Our Time (Radio 4, weekly) Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of ideas

Reith Lectures (Radio 4, run of six) - Lord Broers on The Triumph of Technology

Fighting Talk (Radio Five Live, weekly) - sparky sports debate with points for punditry

Rumour Mill - (Radio Five Live, weekly)

Go Digital (World Service, weekly) - how technology is changing our lives

Documentary archive (World Service, twice weekly)

TX documentaries (1Xtra, weekly) – various subjects

Sportsweek (Radio Five Live, weekly) - get under the skin of the week's big sports stories

Mark Kermode film review slot (Radio Five Live, weekly)

Radio 1 speech highlights - to be confirmed

Gaelic Letter (BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal, weekly).

The BBC will also include a series of radio programmes in its next trial of the Interactive Media Player (iMP).

The BBC first offered mp3 downloads of last year's Reith Lectures, followed by In Our Time and Fighting Talk (also podcast) and selected 1Xtra documentaries.

The three programmes taking part in the first mp3 download trial - In Our Time (Radio 4), Fighting Talk (Radio Five Live) and TX Unlimited (1Xtra) were downloaded a total of 270,000 times in the first four months of the trial.