Podcasting For Your Devices

Podcast – General Notes

The podcast technology dates back to 2000 and became public by 2003. It is one of the first steps towards 'technologies of future'.

You probably wonder what is a podcast about. Well, it is a multimedia file initially designed for iPod. It can be received over the Internet for a subscription fee or for free. A podcast can be quite compatible not only with your iPod, but also with your MP3 player, PC or PDA. The podcast uses syndication feeds or RSS feeds.

Generally, podcasts come as one feed from one author, still there are providers that can offer multiple authors through a single podcast feed.

How it works?

Actually podcasting is not related to iPod only, though the name of this technology resulted from two terms 'iPod' and 'broadcasting'. It is just the fact that Apple's iPod was one of the first devices to have this feature. Now there are several other media players and pocket computers that may download podcasts. But at the same time it is true that iTunes does make it easier for the iPod user to have access to podcasts.

Podcasting makes it possible for the subscriber to choose feed channels. The server transfers multimedia files to the customer. The latter gets XML files containing Internet address of the available media files. Files containing video, images, audio, text, PDF and other file types can be transfered that way.

Then, the direct provider of the content acknowledges the files by referring them through channel known as "feed". The feed is nothing else but a list of URLs where the files may be found. The feed contains directions to files in RSS or Atom format. The great thing about these formats is that they provide the same information as on the sites or blogs but this being more consized. The information can contain titles, text descriptions, publishing date, and even pictures.

To manage and subscribe to feeds you would need a podcatcher or receiver. Feeds are posted on web servers and the provider makes the feed known to the customers. ITunes works in the same way allowing users to get feeds through their software. Becoming a subscriber you can get free or paid podcasts and then transfer them to your iPod or any other devise that supports the function.

Versatility

Initially podcasting was intended for broadcasting radio shows and similar media. But the system proved to be wider in its possibilities. Currently, it is used for distribution of school lessons, conference meeting alerts and updates, audio tours of museums, and even by police departments for public distribution of safety messages. Versatility of podcasting is now combined with different media.

Podcasts are very informative entertaining! Along with podcasting there is a wide range of other types of "-casting" and distribution networks which use the same principles.

• Podcasting services: Autocasting, blogcasting, social media, streaming media and user content
• Distribution networks: Content Delivery Network, Peercasting, MMS podcast, Mobilecast, VoiceCast and Webcasting
• Audio podcasting: MP3 blog, Phonecasting, Skypecasting, Soundseeing Tour
• Video image podcasting: Photofeed, Video Podcast and Screencast