Jeremiah's Music Blog: All hail the mighty podcast

All hail the mighty podcast

A meme making its way around the net at the moment is "podcasting," a hipster way of saying "just like a normal radio show, but online..." which, of course, makes something instantly hipper. Having a new word that nobody else knows also keeps the hipsters hip, ensuring the trend is "old and busted" by the time mom finds out she can download "podcasts" of Lawrence Welk... but I digress...

The basic premise is this: someone produces an audio file (usually in mp3 format) and makes it available via a website in the usual fashion. To make it a podcast, however, you need to take the additional step of publishing an RSS feed specific to your podcast. There are several websites that will aggregate these podcast feeds and create updated lists of available casts.

It's important to differentiate a podcast from a single mp3 file, as a podcast is usually a mimic of AM radio shows, complete with hosts, field interviews, advertisements, and of course, music. What makes the trend particularly interesting and viral, IMHO, is how it enables just about anyone with a recording device, digital editing software, and some basic web savvy to produce listenable content. My current favorite example of this would be Adam Curry (yes, THAT Adam Curry) who produces a near-daily show of his own that's available via the web.

The idea has (naturally) attracted major media vermin ala Infinity Broadcasting, who recently announced plans to broadcast podcasts (confused yet?) on San Fransisco AM station KYOU (called KYOURadio....get it?!?)

A good place to start (albeit overwhelming) is the Podcast Directory. Of course, my catalog is podcast safe...hint hint...

Posted by Jeremiah at April 28, 2005 02:23 AM | Tag This Post | Digg It!