Let’s talk about Podcasting. Podcasting you say? What’s that? Well if you actually have not used it or heard of it, I am about to open a whole new door to you, your iPod and iTunes!

Podcasting is all the rage these days. It has been featured on Fox News and the NY Times recently. Since I believe content drives innovation, technology, and broadband networks, this is really a cool way to use all of this. Podcasting is kind of like a narrowband, delayed broadcasting that brings the listener the content at no cost in almost all cases. There is literally a world of content available to you. Podcasting will compete with satellite radio, subscription based pay-for content like Napster or Audible, and well even traditional broadcasted content.

How does it work you ask? How do I use it? Well Podcasts are usually audio MP3 format and in some cases even video or PDFs, that is distributed via the web using RSS 2.0 (Really Simple Syndication). If you have ever used a RSS newsreader before, used My.Yahoo, or have seen the new coming version of Safari that will be included in the soon to be released Tiger 10.4, you may be familiar with RSS. Many popular websites use RSS as a way to distribute their content to people over the web.

You simply subscribe to the content by putting the URL in a “aggregator” RSS reader and the content shows up on your computer for you to read. With the advent of the RSS 2.0 that allows for wrapping XML containers around MP3 or video content (usually QT) or even PDFs, the content that shows up for you is even more compelling. Most podcasts are MP3s. Do not get scared of “techy” talk here it is easy, really. In fact, once you set it up, most of it happens automatically. The audio content is obtained, transferred to iTunes, synced to your iPod and played. New content can be added as much as you want. When you want it.

What do I need you ask? Not much actually. You will need a RSS aggregator. This is a piece of software you install on your Mac (or Windows PC). I recommend iPodder. It is a free, cross platform software that “plays” nicely with iTunes. There are several other software options like iPodderX, PlayPod, and others. Some are shareware and cost a small amount. But iPodder is free for all platforms, works well, and very easy to use. It integrates with iTunes and iPod nicely.

I would be ecstatic if Apple included RSS 2.0 into iTunes natively as It would be even easier and bring even more value to iTunes. Maybe we will see this soon as Apple is including RSS in a big way to Safari in Tiger. After all, the proliferation of the iPod is why this all came about and is becoming so popular, so fast. Hence the name “Podcasting”.

Well after you install your aggregator software like iPodder. You pick some content to subscribe to, it downloads to your computer. iPodder will download the content and automatically import it to your iTunes making an automatic playlist in iTunes with the name of the content or show you subscribed to. This is now all ready for you to listen to and sync to your iPod. Many of the audio tracks you get are even bookmark-able so you can stop and come back to the same point just like audiobooks in iTunes.

Content by many providers are updated daily, weekly, etc. So the content is always fresh and timely. There is content available from all walks of life and subjects targeting all interest groups. This is where Podcasting has an advantage over traditional broadcasting. iPodder.org, the web site that distributes iPodder has over 4,200 “feeds” you can subscribe to. There are many web sites that offer just lists of “feeds”. A Google search of Podcasts will bring up loads of hits for these sites. Major players like MSNBC, Fox News, and others are all testing the waters of Podcasting. Former MTV VJ Adam Curry is a big proponent of Podcasting and does a daily Podcast called “The Daily Source Code”. iPodder 1.0 software has had over 125,000 downloads alone so far!

OK, you get the Podcast. How do you be the Podcaster and why? Well, want to drive traffic to your web site or blog? Let people have access to your information. Podcasting is a low cost and easy method for all of that. All you need is an audio application. Mac users can use GarageBand to record the audio. Use iTunes to add ID tags (required) and convert audio to MP3. You then need a way to “wrap” your created MP3 in XML for RSS 2.0 and get your Podcast listed on a web page for people to subscribe.

Blogging hosts like Blogger.com, RadioUserland, and others can help you get your content ready for RSS 2.0 and host the site. But Audlink.com can do it by you simply recording your content over a telephone! Some Podcasters are using Skype to do interviews and record their content. As you may know Skype is a free cross-platform software that allows calls to traditional telephones and mobile phones using VoIP. (see Skype).

Another method of distributing Podcasts are using P2P networks like using Bit Torrent. This is mainly done to save bandwidth on individual sites and then saving the costs associated. See www.blogtorrent.com/wiki/index.php/Podcasting_with_Blog_Torrent for more information on this.

If you try this out and like it on your Mac. Do what I did. Give Apple feedback requesting they consider adding the aggregator features to iTunes. I would like to see this like they have Internet Radio. But with a way top add any feed you want to add yourself.

Podcast Software:
http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php
http://ipodderx.com
www.iggsoftware.com/playpod

Sites to find Podcast content (in no particular order):
www.ipodder.org
www.podcastcentral.com
www.podcast.net
www.podcastbunker.com
www.podcastalley.com
www.digitalpodcast.com
www.penguinradio.com/podcasting/ishows.php?iid=5
www.publicradiofan.com/podcasts.html
http://www.podshow.com
http://www.podcastnyc.net/
http://radio.blogware.com/blog/Podcasting101/_archives/2004/10/17/161695.html
www.radiotime.com

Other sites of interest for Podcasting and RSS 2.0:
http://www.howtopodcast.org/
ipodder.sourceforge.net/docs/bpg.html
http://www.myrsscreator.com
www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/01/25/podcast.html
feedforall.com/podcasting-tutorial.htm
henshall.com/blog/archives/001056.htm
podcastingnews.com/articles/How-to-Podcast.html
www.podcasttools.com

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