12 October, 2006

What's a Podcast?

Despite its recent popularity, a large majority still do not know what a podcast is. Hence, i thought that i could use a little space here to spread the word around a bit.

The Number One Myth: You need an iPod to be able to listen to a podcast.

That's a natural line of thought, and that was the misconception i had as well, when i first encountered the term.

So, what's a podcast?

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast),

A podcast is a multimedia file distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.


That definition just about nicely sums it all up. If you still have difficulties grasping the concept, just think a radio programme or segment saved as an MP3 (or any other audio format), which you can listen to just as you would any other MP3 file, at any time.

The first advantage of a podcast is that anyone can have his/her own podcast. There is no need to own/hijack a radio station to produce a podcast. Hence, there is large number of podcasts out there, of virtually any genre.

Secondly, as a listener, you can listen to a podcast at any time, as opposed to having to tune in at a specific time to catch your favourite radio programme.

Some of the podcasts that i listen to frequently:


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