What is a podcast?

Recently, a friend asked me what is a podcast and how can he begin using and listening to them. Here is how Wikipedia defines it: "Podcasting is a method of publishing audio programs via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s)"

Think how a desktop aggregator works. You subscribe to a set of feeds, and then can easily view the new stuff from all of the feeds together, or each feed separately.

Podcasting works the same way, with one exception. Instead of reading the new content on a computer screen, you listen to the new content on an iPod or iPod-like device.

Think of your iPod as having a set of subscriptions that are checked regularly for updates. Today there are a limited number of programs available this way. The format used is RSS 2.0 with enclosures.

To start selecting podcasts of your interest, you can check any of the following links.

Audio.Weblogs

Podcast Alley

iTunes Podcasting

Of course, you can listen to podcasts using any PC based or portable MP3 player. Me, I prefer iTunes to do so on my laptop and my iPod to do it on the run. You can also try the player created by the one that started it all. iPodder by Adam Curry