Hugh's Podcasting 101

  1. listeners: podcasting is a way to get and store audio (and other content)
    Advantage: THEY don't tell you when to listen, or what to listen to.

  2. soundmakers: podcasting is a way to distribute audio content all over the world.
    Advantage: cheap. easy. THEY don't decide who, what, when ... podcasters (you) do.
Part 1: About Podcasting Part 2: How-to Create and Listen to a Podcast

Part 1: About Podcasting


"Podcast"... wha?

Apple ipod (mp3 player) + Broadcast = podcast

The name is a little misleading: many different companies make portable mp3 players (iriver, neuros, etc), and you can listen to podcasts on your computer. You don't need to buy an ipod to produce, or listen to podcasts.

History of Podcasting

Web radio and streaming audio have been around for a long while, and were pretty cool. But streaming web radio was constrained by the same problems as traditional radio broadcast: you had to tune in when they told you to, or you'd miss it.

Blogs and websites have been posting audio for a long time, too, but they suffered from the same problems as traditional websites: you had to go look at the website and manually download the audio files and play them.

But when you throw RSS feeds (essentially an automatic subscription service) into the mix, and a means to collect and download specific media files, you've got something new: a way to dowload the exact audio you want, automatically, as soon as it's available. And then listen to it when and where you wish.

Between 2001 and 2004 podcasting gestated: sometime around October 2004, podcasting proper was born.

Famous names in the birth of podcasting: RSS creator Dave Weiner; former MTV VJ and audiowebber Adam Curry (wp); web-guy Tristan Louis (wp); radio man Christopher Lydon (wp); probable inventor of the word podcast, writer Ben Hammersley (wp).

What's It All About?

Podcasting means that the three dimensions constraining (audio) broadcasting have disappeared: time of broadcast; space on the radio dial; cost of production and distribution. (Note that podcasting applies to, and in fact refers to video distribution as well). That is:

What time is (...) on? The time you broadcast is no longer relevant, because people can listen whenever they want (and note you don't have to cut off Noam Chomsky anymore, because you can break for commercials whenever you want, or not at all).

Space on the dial. Who gets to broadcast on the radio? In most countries, the government auctions off radio frequencies that an entity may broadcast on in a particular region. Or, for people who think radios are mysterious (like me): the government sells the numbers on your radio dial. The space on that dial is finite -- only so many signals can float through the air. Translation: rich companies and governments get to buy up all the space on the radio dial. And you can go to jail for setting up your own pirate radio show without a license. Now, the dial is the internet, and it's (essentially) infinite. There's no limit to the number of podcasts, and the government has little if any control over who podcasts and what they podcast.

Money. Broadcast radio is expensive. You need antennas, studios, microphones ... thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. Podcasting costs: a computer (which you have access to if you're reading this) maybe a mic (you can spend $20 or $250, or just use the internal mic most comuters have these days) and an internet connection. Oh and some free software to record and edit your audio files. Hosting can be done for free. So if you've got a computer and an internet connection, you're in business without any financial outlays. Or you can get fancy and buy a nice mic and maybe a preamp. But you don't need to.

So Who's Podcasting?

Traditional broadcasters, amateurs, and new stuff every day. Here just a collection of some available podcasts:

Public Broadcasters Commercial podcasts
All the biggies have podcasts too: CBS, CNN, ESPN.

DYI Individuals
But the exciting thing is that people of all stripes are podcasting, on topics that interest them, just about anything you can think of: Educational Institutions
One area that's really exciting -- for those of you who think information should be free -- is educational podcasts. We'll see more profs putting their lectures online soon. Here are some universities with podcasts: And, not quite podcasts, but an excellent development of online ed-content, nonetheless: Other who are or will be podcasting
Politicians, corporations, NGOs & non-profits, governments, professional societies, student clubs, sports teams ... in short: EVERYONE.

Some Predictions/Conclusions
  1. Pocasting means more people will create, not just listen

  2. Audio will become an increasingly important format

  3. Traditional broadcasters will be squeezed (especially those who do not understand the coming shifts ... eg. our own Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

  4. Information will continue to seek and find freedom

  5. The traditional power structures of tellers and told will continue to break down, and reemerge as many conversations

Part 2: How-to Create and Listen to a Podcast


The Basics
To create a podcast, here's a short list of what you need: To listen to a podcast, here's what you need: Five Steps to Make and Listen* to a Podcast for $0**

*note if all you want to do listen, use step 4 & 5 only.
**assuming you have access to a computer and internet

Some Other Links

Template by Binary Bonsai