Podcasts
What is podcasting?
Podcasting is a term first coined in 2004 that combined two words: "iPod" and "broadcast."
But neither podcasting nor listening to podcasts requires an iPod or any other portable player - they can be produced and listened to using an ordinary PC.
A podcast is a web feed of audio files that is placed on the internet for anyone to subscribe to.
Although they can be downloaded and listened to by anyone with a media player, it is the automatic delivery of new content via RSS (really simple syndication) technologies that distinguishes podcasting from a simple download or streaming.
Subscribing to podcasts allows users to collect content from a variety of sources for listening at whatever time is convenient, as opposed to traditional broadcasting when the time is broadcaster-specified.
For more on the history of podcasting and the technology behind it click here
