What is Podcasting?
In this section we bring you the secrets of Podcasting and Vidcasting, and its benefits...
1 – Podcasting is…
2 – Vidcasting (VODcasting)
3 – What’s in it for podcast listeners?
4 – What’s in it for the podcaster or vidcaster?
1 - Podcasting is...
In short, Podcasting is producing a series of episodes and publishing it on the internet, ready to download. (The term podcast is derived from Apple’s iPod mp3-player, and the term broadcast.) Podcasting is a bit like producing radio shows aimed at listeners through a personal computer or mp3-player. The Podcast-episodes ("radioshows") are automatically downloaded onto your mp3-player through a subscription.
Podcasting is the ultimate form of audio-on-demand: you can listen to your favorite show whenever, wherever and as much as you want!
2 - Vidcasting (VODcasting)
Vidcasting (vidcasting) is the audiovisual version of Podcasting. Vidcasting can best be compared to producing a television show, instead of a radio show. Because of its visual nature, Vidcasting requires a portable player that is capable of playing video file formats (such as Apple’s Video iPod). Most PC’s can already receive both sound and video files.
So what's in it for you? Well, a LOT! For both Podcast Listeners and Pod- or Vidcasters.
3 - What's in it for podcast listeners?
To begin with, Podcasting enables the Podcast listener to choose from an abundance of shows.
To give you an impression, at the end of February 2006, we counted the following number of Podcasts:
- Number of registered Podcasts at Podcast Alley: 15,447, with a total of 416,248 episodes.
That's an average of 27 episodes per Podcast!; - Total number of registered Podcasts/Vidcasts at iTunes: 38,605.
To give you a little appetite, there are Podcasts about Sports, Business, Comedy, Technology, Music, Finance, Harry Potter, Knitting, Programming, Painting, Sex and what-not! There are no institutions controlling the Podcast universe, so there are no bounderies regarding the creativity in Podcasts! (Click HERE for some figures.)
On websites that provide you with a list of available Podcasts, so-called "Podcast directories", you can choose which shows you want to listen to. Next, you subscribe to the shows you've chosen. Once subscribed, new episodes of your Podcasts will automatically be downloaded onto your computer and iPod or MP3-player, waiting to be enjoyed on your computer or on the go.
From now on you can use your spare time with the exact shows that you have chosen, with educational, inspiring or just entertaining contents. You can listen where, whenever you want, and as many times as you want! By carrying your Podcasts on the go, you can listen to your local Berkeley Podcaster while flying over Australia. You can check out our Podcast LISTENING section for more information. And on top of all that: It all comes for FREE!
4 - What's in it for the Podcaster or Vidcaster?
Podcasting enables you, to bring your own message to an audience, against very little cost. And because the audience only needs access to the Internet and have some free space on their harddisks, you could reach the world. And by that we literally mean THE WORLD! Research shows that 4,8 million people downloaded at least one Podcast in 2005, opposed to 820,000 in 2004! Weekly Podcasters now spend 4 hours a month listening to their favourite shows, with an average of 6 times a week. So this medium has expanded very fast!
To start your own Podcast, all you need is a laptop with a built-in microphone, (or computer with an external microphone,) a little space on an Internet-server to store your audio-files, and a little text file (a Feed, to be precise). Submit your Podcast at the various Podcast directories, and you will be amazed how many people will become you audience!
And with a commercial approach, you might even be able to quit your dayjob!
If you want to know more, check our section Podcasting - a Little More Detail for a step-by-step approach of Podcasting, or our Podcasting - a Technical Overview section for a technical explanation of things.