Introduction to Podcasting - Part 1: What is Podcasting?
Jim Williamson
Teaching Enhancement Center
UCLA Office of Instructional Development
What is a podcast?
Why are podcasts so popular?
Do I need an iPod?
How does a podcast differ from streaming audio?
What makes a podcast different than a radio program?
How can I listen to podcasts?
Where can I find podcasts?
How do I create a podcast?
These are some of the questions you might be asking if, like many people, you are confused
about podcasting.
To boil it down, a podcast is simply an audio file created along with some
computer code that enables the file to be downloaded to your computer.
That’s it. At its core, a podcast is just a computer audio file.
Introduction
2005 may well be known as the Year of the Podcast. In a surprisingly short amount of time, the
terms “podcast” and “podcasting” have burst upon our media landscape with remarkable
intensity. It seems everywhere you turn these days, whether it is the website of the local
newspaper, national public radio stations, or your next-door neighbor, everybody seems to be
offering podcasts.
It helps to think of a podcast as a radio show delivered to your computer. Like a radio show,
podcasts often consist of episodes released on a regular, periodic basis or can be special, one-
time events. Unlike radio, where you are limited to what the broadcaster is providing in your
reception area, podcasts enable you to reach out across the geographic-boundlessness of the
Internet and choose what you want to listen to, when you want to listen to it, and how you want
to listen to it. Also unlike broadcast radio, podcasting can use a subscription model, enabling you
to have your favorite shows automatically delivered to your computer. In this manner,
podcasting has been likened to TiVo for the Internet.
As websites seemed to blossom everywhere overnight, in much the same way so have podcasts.
Because the technology behind podcasting is relatively simple, distribution of podcasts has
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become a sensation. Podcasts provide traditional media another outlet for distribution and, like
blogs, have also posed a populist alternative to corporate-controlled content.
This article will provide an introduction to podcasting, offer some ways to get you started, give
you a look into the Next Big Thing (“vodcasting,” or “screencasting”), and point you to
resources for further exploration.
A follow-up article will explore implications for instruction and creating podcasts for your own
distribution.
How Can I Get Started?
Although similar to radio broadcasting, podcasting differs from traditional radio distribution
because you use a computer rather than a radio, and you can:
• subscribe to shows
• schedule the automatic download of these shows to your computer
• automatically transfer these shows to your portable digital music player.
It is important to know that podcasting has no necessary connection to Apple’s popular iPod
music player. The popularity of that portable music device lends its name to the podcasting
phenomenon, but you do not need to own an iPod (or any portable music player, for that matter)
to listen to or create podcasts. The iPod is a device; a podcast is the show.
What you do need, though, is:
• a computer with sound capabilities
• podcasting software in order to subscribe to shows and schedule downloads
• an Internet connection, preferably fast
• a portable music player (optional).
Because sound files tend to be large, a fast connection makes receiving podcasts far less painful
than the same procedure would be over a telephone modem.
Along with the computer, you need software to manage your podcasts. Just as you use a web
browser like Firefox to view and bookmark your favorite websites, so too you need software to
best make use of podcasting’s unique capabilities. In fact, you can get started listening to
podcasts with nothing more than your browser, but to get the full benefits of podcasting you
should use software designed for receiving podcasts. If your computer is always on the Internet,
as with a campus connection, a DSL, or a cable modem, you can schedule automatic
downloading of podcasts to your computer as they become available.
Additionally, if you own a portable digital music player, such as Apple's iPod or Creative's Zen
Micro, the podcasts can automatically be transferred onto the player and subsequently taken
along for playback anywhere you go.
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The fact that you download and store podcasts on your hard drive is one of the differences
between podcasts and streaming audio, such as Internet radio delivered by RealPlayer. Because
you do not retain the streamed audio, you cannot save it or transfer it to portable music devices.
Automation, subscription, and portability are some of the key differences between podcasts and
other forms of media. Podcasting leverages the power of the Internet and the computer’s
automation of routine tasks to provide a wonderfully convenient way to obtain and enjoy media.
The World of Podcasts
As with websites, podcasts span the range of human endeavors and, like other Internet-based
content, finding podcasts that suit your tastes or interests is relatively easy but finding items of
worth takes a bit more perseverance and discernment. Since podcasts are similar to radio shows
(or, in some cases, like NPR's podcasts, actually may be portions of or whole broadcast radio
programs), new podcasts appear with some frequency. Many people jumped on the podcast
bandwagon early and learned that the real force behind podcasts is not the technology, but the
content, so sometimes you will run across podcasts that promise continued treasures but sputter
out with only one episode. There is a reason radio professionals get paid: any person can record
their voice and post a podcast, but it takes dedication, skill, and above all, something interesting
to say to make a successful podcast.
There is a host of podcast directories available, and many ways to reach these directories, such as
with websites, specialized software for displaying podcast listings, or integrated solutions, like
iTunes.
Because iTunes is a full-featured application (it enables you to find, subscribe, manage,
playback, and transfer podcasts to an iPod or other devices), runs on both Windows and
Macintosh computers, and is freely available from Apple, we will focus on iTunes throughout
this article. Fortunately, iTunes can work with portable devices other than an iPod, so if you own
a different iTunes-compatible device, some of the details that follow may differ for your player.
At the end of this article, though, we will point to alternative software you can use.
Downloading and installing iTunes is easy, but you need version 4.9 or later to receive podcasts.
As of late September 2005, the most recent version is iTunes 5.01.
If you own a modern Macintosh, you most likely already have iTunes installed; just make sure to
run the Software Update command (under the Apple menu) to ensure you have the most recent
version.
If you don't have it installed or are on a Windows machine, you can download iTunes from
Apple's website (http://www.apple.com/itunes/). Installing it is very simple and can be done by
following the instructions in the installer.
(Note that iTunes wants to manage your music for you, and if you have existing music files on
your computer, it will ask you if you want to use iTunes to manage all your music. If you already
use another application to manage your music you can decline this offer. If you simply do not
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want to use iTunes, you can find alternative podcast software choices following this article.)
To begin, open iTunes and click on the Music Store. Although you do not need to purchase most
podcasts, Apple's podcast directory is found within the Music Store (see Fig. 1).
Figure 1: Locating the podcast directory
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The podcast directory boasts a number of features to help you find, preview, and manage your
podcasts. You can either search via keywords or browse podcasts by categories. The browsing
window allows you to get a sense of how many different podcasts are available; as of this writing
Apple's directory lists more than 15,000 available podcasts (see Fig. 2).
Figure 2: Podcast directory
The iTunes podcast browser allows you to wander through various categories and find podcasts.
In the example below, we have browsed to the Higher Education subcategory and highlighted
"Cornell University New Student reading Project," a podcast being offered by Michele Moody-
Adams, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and others at Cornell University (see Fig. 3).
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Figure 3: Browsing podcasts
On the right side of the "Album" column
(which, granted, is an odd name for a
podcast column), you will find a small
arrow. Clicking this arrow will bring you
to a page with more information about the
selected podcast.
Below is an example of a typical podcast page within iTunes. This screen provides information
about the selected podcast, including: the name of the podcast; the author of the podcast; a
general description of the podcast; a button to download individual episodes; a button to learn
information about a specific episode; details of the podcast, such as number of episodes,
category, and language; a listing of the available episodes for this podcast; and a "Subscribe"
button (see Fig. 4).
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Figure 4: Podcast details
A few things to note: first, this is only the listing as in iTunes; podcasts may be cross-listed on
other directories or not found in iTunes at all. There is no universal list of all podcasts. Second,
the information provided about the podcasts typically comes from the authors, not from the
directory host. Third, Apple's iTunes directory may not display all available podcasts for
download: some podcasts have associated websites, and visiting those sites may reveal additional
episodes not downloadable via iTunes.
When subscribing to a podcast, iTunes presents an "Are you sure?" message. Since subscribing
allows for the automatic download of the files, and since audio files can be quite large, managing
your podcast files is important so that the files do not consume too much hard disk space. A little
later we will take a look at how iTunes uses a number of convenient preferences to help make
managing podcasts easier.
When you click "Subscribe," you move to a screen similar to that shown in Figure 5. On the left
side of the screen you will see that you have moved from the Music Store's podcast directory to a
list of your personal podcasts. In the screen image, you will see that download indicators reveal
the automatic retrieval of the subscribed podcasts has already begun: iTunes is downloading
audio files from Cornell and Winecast. These files will be stored on your hard disk and added to
your iTunes Library.
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Figure 5: Subscribing to podcasts
As mentioned, automatic subscription to podcasts can quickly fill up a hard drive. To make this
process a bit easier to manage, iTunes has a few settings that, once set, will work transparently in
the background. These settings are explored in the following three illustrations.
Figure 6 shows how to set the frequency at which iTunes should check for new episodes of the
podcasts you have subscribed to. Some podcasts are very infrequent, whereas some authors
release new podcasts everyday.
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Figure 6: Check for new episodes
If a new episode is found, Figure 7 shows the choices available to you: Download the most
recent, download all episodes, or do nothing. If you choose this last setting, recent episodes will
appear in your podcast listing and you can manually download them by clicking the "Get"
button.
Figure 7: Controlling episode downloads
The final choice is a good setting to pay attention to. This asks you to specify how many
episodes you want to store on your hard drive. As you can see, there are many choices available.
It is probably best not to choose "Keep All Episodes" unless you are very organized and are good
about manually deleting files from your computer when you are done with them (see Fig. 8).
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Figure 8: Storage considerations
iTunes has a built-in "safety" feature that stops automatic downloads of new episodes if there are
five unplayed podcasts. You can override this by manually downloading new episodes, but it
does act as a nice buffer to prevent your hard drive from filling up.
After you've downloaded one or more podcasts, the files can be listened to on your computer or
transferred to your portable music player. With an iPod and iTunes, this is handled as with your
music files: syncing your player to computer automatically moves the podcasts as it does your
music files.
The Next Big Thing Is Already Here
Just when you feel you have podcasting under your belt however, the Next Big Thing has
already arrived: video podcasting, also known as "vodcasting" or "screencasting." Video
podcasting follows essentially the same process as podcasting except uses video files instead of
mere audio files. iTunes can be your gateway into video podcasting, too. The steps below will
show you how to find vodcasts using iTunes.
To begin, navigate to the podcast directory by clicking on the Music Store then Podcasts. Enter
the term "video" in the iTunes search box and hit enter. Along with the search results, you'll see
that a new Search Bar has been revealed (see Fig. 9).
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Figure 9: Search Bar
Because vodcasting is relatively new, much of the polish with finding podcasts has yet to be
delivered. As of now, there is no quick way to identify a vodcast from a podcast, other than the
appearance of the small video icon. Sometimes choices are obvious, with titles like "Chris
Daniel's Video Blog" or descriptions like "Video tutorials for the Mac or PC." The key is look
for the video icon, as shown in Figure 10.
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Figure 10: Video podcasting icon and viewer
Finding video podcasts will certainly become a more streamlined process as more and more
people begin producing and distributing them. As vodcasting becomes more widespread, iTunes
should remain a good integrated choice because in addition to the subscription and directory
features of podcasting, iTunes allows you to play the video without opening another application.
And, by clicking on the video viewer in the bottom left corner, iTunes will open a large window
(see Fig. 11).
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Figure 11: Large video viewer
I hope this article has provided you with a thorough background and practicum for understanding
podcasting. A follow-up article will discuss creating podcasts and vodcasts and implications for
instruction.
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Additional Podcasting Resources
Directories
Podcast Network http://www.thepodcastnetwork.com/
"Unlike a directory, all of the content available on The Podcast Network is managed by a
central production team ensuring not only the quality and consistency of the actual
content itself but also of the audio quality and the other technical elements."
Podcast Bunker http://www.podcastbunker.com/
"We're about Podcast Quality, not Quantity! We only list The Very Best Podcast!"
NPR Podcasts http://www.npr.org/podcasts/
"NPR Podcasts include selections from Morning Edition, All Things Considered and
other award-winning programs from NPR and partner organizations."
Podcast Alley http://www.podcastalley.com/
"Podcast Alley is the podcast lovers portal. Featuring the best Podcast Directory and the
Top 10 podcasts (as voted on by the listeners). You will also find podcast software, the
podcast forum and great podcasting info."
Podcast.net http://www.podcast.net/
iPodder http://www.ipodder.org/
Vodcasts http://www.vodcasts.tv/
Podcast and Vodcast Software
Windows
iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/
iPodder http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php
iPodderX http://ipodderx.com/
Doppler http://www.dopplerradio.net
Mac
iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/
iPodder http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php
iPodderX http://ipodderx.com/
DTV Beta http://dtvmac.com/ (Full launch/Windows version "coming soon")
Other
Apple http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93548
List of iTunes-compatible music players
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