What is Podcasting?

A Podcast has come to mean any audio programs made available for downloading from a website. If I make an audio documentary and put it on my web page for download many would call this a Podcast. However this is not really what Podcasting is. A Podcast is a method of subscribing to audio content.

This is quite unlike the traditional way of downloading content. Usually this process involves browsing to a site, find what you want, then click on the link to download it.

 

Somewhere on the net is a computer that has that file and delivers it to your computer through the browser.

 

This is ok if the website has just a couple of audio files to distribute. However if the website makes new audio available regularly then you have to remember to check the site periodically, find the new content, and click on the link to download it. This is inefficient and very time consuming.

Podcasting is intended to make exactly this situation more manageable. A Podcast enables you to subscribe to content so that you are notified of new material when it is made available. The software that manages this kind of subscription will then conveniently download the content for you without you needing to continuously revisit the webpage.