Podcasting

What is Podcasting?
=Table of Contents= [|What is Podcasting?][|How Do I Find and Access Podcasts?] According to [|Wikipedia] a podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The host or author of a podcast is often called a **podcaster**. A podcast is distinguished from other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added, using an aggregator or feed reader capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom. A podcast can contain any audio or video you wish others to save and hear. Common programs that have been created to retrieve your audio files are [|iTunes] and [|Juice.] Podcasts can be accessed and listened to at a time that suits the user. You don’t have to have an iPod or mp3 player to listen to podcasts. Your computer will do the job just as well, it is just not so portable. After creating an audio file it needs to be stored on a server. The files are listed. The content provider then announces the existence of that file by referencing it in another file known as the //feed//. This list is usually published in RSS format. People can subscribe to the podcast feed. When new episodes become available in the podcast they will be automatically downloaded on that user’s computer.
 * [[image:web2-0world:what_is_podcasting.jpg align="center" caption="Thanks to nkilkenny.wordpress.com for this diagram."]] ||
 * Thanks to nkilkenny.wordpress.com for this diagram. ||

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How Do I Find and Access Podcasts?
Podcasts are available everywhere on every subject. To take advantage of what is already available you need a program to view podcasts on your computer. iTunes works on both Macs and PCs and is a free download from Apple. You can also access and manage podcasts using an RSS feed reader such as Google Reader. Just sign in for a free Google account to access this service. The beauty of podcasts is that once you have found something you are after, e.g. something from the National Geographic series, you can subscribe to the podcast and receive regular updates of the latest episodes. To use iTunes to subscribe to your desired podcast open iTunes and go to the iTunes store. If you don’t already have one, create an account by clicking on the account button on the right hand side. Once you have an account a huge range of podcasts are available for free. Find the category you are interested in and browse or do a search. Find your desired podcast series and click the subscribe button. This subscription will be sent to the Podcasts folder in iTunes on your computer. Open the desired folder and either click ‘Get’ for a single episode or ‘Get All’ to download all episodes up to date