Podcast: All about Podcasting

Podcasting, a term derived from a combination of Apple's "iPod" and "broadcasting", is a method of publishing files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new files automatically. It first became popular in late 2004, used largely for audio files. Podcasting is distinct from other types of audio content delivery because of its subscription model, which uses the RSS 2.0 file format. This technique has enabled independent producers to create self-published, syndicated "radio shows", and has given broadcast radio programs a new distribution channel. Users subscribe to podcasts using "podcatching" software (also called "aggregator" software) which periodically checks for and downloads new content. It can then sync the content to the user's portable music player.

How to Podcatch (getting podcasts):
First, you will need to install a Podcast client like iPodder or Doppler.

Getting the feeds:
Second, you will need to get (subscribe) the feeds and add it to the podcast client. Alternatively, you can also immediately download the audio files just by clicking on the audio link (mp3 file etc) on the website/blog and save it to your computer. However, this way you have to do it manually and one at a time. The purpose of getting (subscribing) to these feeds is so that you can automatically download new songs from mutliple sites/blogs from one point (your podcast client). There are many directories out there such as podcaster.net and podcasts.org for you to get feeds of any categories or you can just type 'podcast' in the search engines.

How to make your own podcasts and feeds:
There are millions of ways that you can make podcasts. To look at this really simply; it is just recording your own song/sound and convert it into an audio file such as MP3 or RM. Here is a link that will teach you how to create your own podcasts.

Creating podcast feeds is the same as creating RSS feeds. You can use feedburner to create your podcast feeds or you can create it using audioblog.com. I personally use feedburner as it is really easy to use.

Posting of Podcasts in Blogger:
To post a Podcast-able item within Blogger: 1. Click the Posting tab to begin a new post. 2. If you enabled the Link field, it should now appear below Title on the posting form. 3. Place your Podcast media URL in this field. Be sure to include the http:// protocol part of the URL. 4. Publish your Post. The title of the post will link directly to the item in a web browser. In your FeedBurner feed, the item will link to the original Blogger post, but an element will contain the URL from the Link field. http://forums.feedburner.com/viewtopic.php?t=20

Here are some further information on podcasting:
http://www.rss-specifications.com/podcast-tools.htm

- Learn how to podcast