A podcast is mainly a collection of digital media files, both audio, and video. These types of media files are out at regular intervals and can be downloaded from the internet. Actually, podcasting is a fresh form of online media liberation. There are unique client software applications known as podcatchers (like iTunes or Winamp). Podcasters are usually used to automatically detect and download new files in the series at the release time. The files are accessed by a centralized zed web feed which lists the files in a particular series. As a result, the podcatcher can easily download new files and the files are kept on the computer or another storage device. A podcaster is an individual who generates the content.
Origin of the name: – At first the name was mentioned by Ben Hammersley in February 2004 in the famous newspaper ‘The Guardian’. It is the combination of two words “iPod” and “broadcast”. The term podcasting has come from Apple’s iPod. Though the name has come from iPod, it is not necessary to use iPod for podcasts. Actually, the term podcast stands for “Personal On Demand broadcast”.
History of Podcasting: – Podcasting first came into light or public knowledge at the end of 2004. Though between the years 1998-2001, many podcasts were produced by chief companies like Real Networks and ESPN.com.
Types of Podcasts: – Till now there are mainly two types of podcasts-
- Video Podcast – A video podcast is the same as a podcast but it is used for video clip content available on the internet via Atom or RSS feed. An excellent example of a video podcast is Web television. Video podcasts are generally distributed as a file or as a stream from the web server. Thus after downloading the complete video podcasts, it has the capacity to play it offline.
- Enhanced podcast: – It is a multimedia format that displays images along with audio in time. This is used for presentations and for delivering lectures with the help of PowerPoint-like slide shows. The only drawback of the enhanced podcast is that it is not universally supported.
Create your own podcast: – Podcasting helps to create your individual audio files (commonly in MP3 or WMA formats). Then these audio files are released online on the internet and subscribed to by RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader. Then these files can be downloaded by the listeners to any kind of storage device like an iPod, cell phone, or computers. Podcasting provides the facility to generate your personal syndicated online talk show or any kind of radio program.
