Podcast

A podcast is a digital medium that consists of an episodic series of audio or digital radio, subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device. The word is a neologism and portmanteau derived from "broadcast" and "pod" from the success of the iPod, as audio podcasts are often listened to on portable media players.

The Merriam Webster Tenth International Collegiate defines "Podcast" as: a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the Internet.

A list of all the audio or video files associated with a given series is maintained centrally on the distributor's server as a web feed, and the listener or viewer employs special client application software, known as a podcatcher, that can access this web feed, check it for updates, and download any new files in the series. This process can be automated so that new files are downloaded automatically, which may seem to the user as if the content is being broadcast or "pushed" to them. Files are stored locally on the user's computer or other device ready for offline use. Podcasting contrasts with webcasting (Internet streaming), which generally isn't designed for offline listening to user-selected content.

As discussed by Richard Berry, podcasting is both a converged medium bringing together audio, the web and portable media player, and a disruptive technology that has caused some in the radio business to reconsider some of the established practices and preconceptions about audiences, consumption, production and distribution. This idea of disruptiveness is largely because no one person owns the technology; it is free to listen and create content, which departs from the traditional model of "gate-kept" media and production tools. It is very much a horizontal media form: producers are consumers and consumers become producers and engage in conversations with each other.What are feeds? I see "RSS", "XML", and "Atom" out there, but I don't know how I might use these links when I find them. Feeds are a way for websites large and small to distribute their content well beyond just visitors using browsers. Feeds permit subscription to regular updates, delivered automatically via a web portal, news reader, or in some cases good old email. Feeds also make it possible for site content to be packaged into "widgets," "gadgets," mobile devices, and other bite-sized technologies that make it possible to display blogs, podcasts, and major news/sports/weather/whatever headlines just about anywhere.

What Does This Mean? You may recognize the universal feed icon or these "chicklets" from your favorite websites, blogs, and podcasts. These icons represent content in any format - text, audio or video - to which you can subscribe and read/watch/listen using a feed reader. What's that?

Why is This a Good Thing? Technology evolution in online publishing has made it really easy to not only publish regular updates to web-based content, but also keep track of a large number of your favorite websites or blogs, without having to remember to check each site manually or clutter your email inbox. You can now streamline your online experience by subscribing to specific content feeds and aggregating this information in one place to be read when you're ready.

Consumer Bottom Line: Subscribing to feeds makes it possible to review a large amount of online content in a very short time. Publisher Bottom Line: Feeds permit instant distribution of content and the ability to make it "subscribable." Advertiser Bottom Line: Advertising in feeds overcomes many of the shortcomings that traditional marketing channels encounter including spam filters, delayed distribution, search engine rankings, and general inbox noise. Who publishes feeds? Most of the biggest names on the web offer content feeds including USATODAY.com, BBC News Headlines, ABCNews, CNET, Yahoo!, Amazon.com (including a podcast!), and many more. Google publishes feeds as part of many of our services; for example, you can get a feed of new items for any search you make in Google News. In addition, hundreds of thousands of bloggers, podcasters, and videobloggers publish feeds to keep themselves better connected to their readers, listeners, admirers, and critics. Apple, through its iTunes Music Store, offers tens of thousands of audio and video podcasts for download, each of which is powered by a feed.

How do I read feeds? If you want to browse and subscribe to feeds, you have many choices. Today, there are more than 2,000 different feed reading applications, also known as "news aggregators" (for text, mostly) or "podcatchers" (for podcasts). There are even readers that work exclusively on mobile devices.

Some require a small purchase price but are tops for ease-of-use and ship with dozens of feeds pre-loaded so you can explore the feed "universe" right away. Free readers are available as well; a search for "Feed reader" or "Feed aggregator" at popular search sites will yield many results. A handful of popular feed readers are listed at the bottom of this page.

A typical interface for a feed reader will display your feeds and the number of new (unread) entries within each of those feeds. You can also organize your feeds into categories and even clip and save your favorite entries (with certain applications).

If you prefer, you can use an online, web-based service to track and manage feeds. Online services give you the advantage of being able to access your feed updates anywhere you can find a web browser. Also, upgrades and new features are added automatically.

Show me what a typical feed reader looks like. How can I publish my own feeds? If you have a website, blog, audio/video content, or even photos, you can offer a feed of your content as an option. If you are using a popular blogging platform or publishing tool like TypePad, Wordpress, or Blogger, you likely publish a feed automatically. Even other non-blogging sites like social photo-sharing service Flickr offer feeds of content you produce that others can retrieve. There are also tools on the market that can help transform traditional web content into the right format for distribution.

FeedBurner's services allow publishers who already have a feed to improve their understanding of and relationship with their audience. Once you have a working feed, run it through FeedBurner and realize a whole new set of benefits.

Learn more about FeedBurner's services for blogs, podcasts and commercial publications. And finally, some technical backstory... The new method for easily distributing online content is often called a web feed and the technical format that makes it possible is called RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, and/or Rockdale, Sandow, and Southern (Railroad) if you trust the good folks at AcronymFinder.com. RSS is based on XML, a widely used standard for textual information exchange between applications on the Internet. RSS feeds can be viewed as plain text files, but they're really designed for computer-to-computer communication.

We should point out that RSS is just one standard for expressing feeds as XML. Another well-known choice is Atom. Both formats have their boosters, and it doesn't appear that consolidation toward a single standard is imminent. However, most feed subscribers simply want fresh content and don't care at all about the underlying protocol. (FeedBurner helps publishers avoid this quandary with our SmartFeed service, which makes any feed format readable on any subscriber device.)

Resources: Feed-Related Backgrounders

CNN: Welcome to the 'new' Web, same as the 'old' Web Mark Pilgrim at XML.com Wired Magazine: Aggregators Attack Info Overload MediaThink: RSS: The Next Big Thing Online (an introduction to RSS implications for business) BBC News Wikipedia Popular Feed Readers

Applications

NewsGator - FeedDemon 2.0 (Windows, more info) NewsGator - Inbox for Microsoft Outlook (Windows) NewsGator - NetNewsWire (OS X) Firefox (via "Live Bookmarks" feature) Safari (feed support in the Apple OS X native browser) Pulp Fiction (OS X) Online Services

Google Reader NewsGator (Online) My Yahoo! Bloglines Pageflakes Netvibes Podcast Readers

iTunes Juice Doppler FireAnt

Name

The term "podcasting" was first mentioned by McDonalds in The Guardian newspaper in a February 2004 article, along with other proposed names for the new medium. It is a portmanteau of the words "pod" —from iPod— and "broadcast". Despite the etymology, the content can be accessed using any computer that can play media files and not just portable music players. Use of the term "podcast" predates the addition of native support for podcasting to the iPod, or to Apple's iTunes software.

a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the Internet

— podcast verb (guys I'm going do some Podcasting — pod·cast·er noun

Other names for podcasting exists, such as "net cast", intended as a vendor-neutral term without the loose reference to the Apple iPod. The name is used by shows from the TWiT.tv network.

History

Main article: History of podcasting

Many people and groups, including Dawn and Drew of The Dawn and Drew Show, Kris and Betsy Smith of Croncast, and Dan Klass of The Bitterest Pill contributed to the early emergence and popularity of podcasts. Former MTV VJ Adam Curry, in collaboration with Dave Winer, a developer of RSS feeds, is credited with coming up with the idea to automate the delivery and syncing of textual content to portable audio players.

From its humble beginnings to its rise as an instrumental agent of change, particularly in the broadcast arena, podcasting's mainstream acceptance has been documented and preserved for generations to come.

Podcasting, once an obscure method of spreading information, has become a recognized medium for distributing audio content, whether for corporate or personal use. A podcast is similar to a radio program with key differences: listeners can tune into their favorite shows at their convenience and listen to podcasts directly on a device that is Internet-enabled or can play sideloaded audio content.

The first application to make this process feasible was iPodderX, developed by August Trometer and Ray Slakinski. By 2007, through the evolution of internet capabilities, along with cheaper hardware and software, audio podcasts were doing what was historically accomplished via radio broadcasts, which since the 1930s had been the sources of radio talk shows and news programs.

In August 2004 Adam Curry launched his show Daily Source Code. It was a show focused on chronicling the everyday life of Adam Curry, delivering news and discussions about the development of podcasting, as well as promotion for new and emerging podcasts. Daily Source Code is believed to be the first podcast produced on a consistent basis. Curry published it in an attempt to gain traction in the development of what would come to be known as podcasting, and as a means of testing the software outside of a lab setting. The name Daily Source Code was chosen in the hope that it would attract an audience with an interest for technology.

Daily Source Code started at a grassroots level of production and was initially directed at podcast developers. As its audience became interested in the format, these developers were inspired to create and produce their own projects, and as a result improved the code used to create podcasts. As it became known how easy production was, a community of pioneer podcasters quickly appeared. Despite a lack of commonly accepted identifying name at the time of creation, Daily Source Code is commonly believed to be the first podcast to ever be published online.

In June 2005, Apple released iTunes 4.9 with native support for podcasts. While this made receiving podcasts more convenient, it effectively ended advancement of the podcast medium by independent developers. To add to the cooling factor, Apple issued Cease and Desist orders to many podcast application developers and service providers for using the term "iPod" or "Pod" in their products' names.

File:Podcasting icon.jpg

The logo used by Apple to represent Podcasting

Within a year many podcasts from public radio networks like the BBC, CBC Radio One, National Public Radio, and Public Radio International placed many of their radio shows on the iTunes platform. In addition major local radio stations like WNYC in New York City and WHYY-FM radio in Philadelphia, KCRW in Los Angeles placed their programs on their websites and later on the iTunes platform.

Concurrently CNET, This Week in Tech and later Bloomberg Radio, the Financial Times and other for profit concerns provided podcast content some using podcasting as their only distribution system.

IP issues in trademark and patent law

Trademark applications

February 10-25th of March 2005 Shae Spencer Management, LLC of Fairport, New York filed a trademark application to register the term "podcast" for an "online prerecorded radio program over the internet". On September 9, 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office rejected the application, citing Wikipedia's podcast entry as describing the history of the term. The company amended their application in March 2006, but the USPTO rejected the amended application as not sufficiently differentiated from the original. In November 2006, the application was marked as abandoned.

As of September 20, 2005, known trademarks that attempted to capitalize on podcast included: ePodcast, GodCast, GuidePod, MyPod, Pod-Casting, Podango, PodCabin, Podcast, Podcast Realty, Podcaster, PodcastPeople, Podgram PodKitchen, PodShop, and Podvertiser.

By February 2007, there had been 24 attempts to register trademarks containing the word "PODCAST" in United States, but only "PODCAST READY" from Podcast Ready, Inc. was approved.

Apple trademark protections

On September 26, 2004, it was reported that Apple had started to crack down on businesses using the string "POD", in product and company names. Apple sent a cease and desist letter that week to Podcast Ready, Inc., which markets an application known as "myPodder". Lawyers for Apple contended that the term "pod" has been used by the public to refer to Apple's music player so extensively that it falls under Apple's trademark cover. Such activity was speculated to be part of a bigger campaign for Apple to expand the scope of its existing iPod trademark, which included trademarking "IPOD", "IPODCAST", and "POD". On November 16, 2006, the Apple Trademark Department stated that Apple does not object to third party usage of "the generic term" "podcast" to refer to podcasting services, and that Apple does not license the term. However, no statement was made as to whether or not Apple believed they held rights to it.

Personal Audio lawsuits

Personal Audio, a company referred to as a "patent troll" by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, filed a patent on podcasting in 2009 for a claimed invention in 1996. In February 2013, Personal Audio started suing high-profile podcasters for royalties, including The Adam Carolla Show and the HowStuffWorks podcast. US Congressman Peter DeFazio's previously proposed "SHIELD Act" intends to curb patent trolls.

In October, 2013, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a petition with the US Trademark Office to invalidate the Personal Audio patent.

August 18, 2014, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that Adam Carolla had settled with Personal Audio.

April 10, 2015, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office invalidates five provisions of Personal Audio's podcasting patent.

Variants

Enhanced podcasts

An enhanced podcast can display images synchronized with audio. These can contain chapter markers, hyperlinks, and artwork, all of which is synced to a specific program or device. When an enhanced podcast is played within its specific program or device, all the appropriate information should be displayed at the same time and in the same window, making it easier to display materials.

Podcast novels

A podcast novel (also known as a serialized audiobook or podcast audiobook) is a literary format that combines the concepts of a podcast and an audiobook. Like a traditional novel, a podcast novel is a work of long literary fiction; however, this form of novel is recorded into episodes that are delivered online over a period of time and in the end available as a complete work for download. The episodes may be delivered automatically via RSS, through a web site, blog, or other syndication method. These files are either listened to directly on a user's computer or loaded onto a portable media device to be listened to later.

The types of novels that are podcasted vary from new works from new authors that have never been printed, to well established authors that have been around for years, to classic works of literature that have been in print for over a century. In the same style as an audiobook, podcast novels may be elaborately narrated with separate voice actors for each character and sound effects, similar to a radio play. Other podcast novels have a single narrator reading the text of the story with little or no sound effects.

Podcast novels are distributed over the Internet, commonly on a weblog. Podcast novels are released in episodes on a regular schedule (e.g., once a week) or irregularly as each episode is released when completed, and can either be downloaded manually from a website or blog, or be delivered automatically via RSS or other method of syndication. Ultimately, a serialized podcast novel becomes a completed audiobook.

Some podcast novelists give away a free podcast version of their book as a form of promotion. Some such novelists have even secured publishing contracts to have their novels printed. Podcast novelists have commented that podcasting their novels lets them build audiences even if they cannot get a publisher to buy their books. These audiences then make it easier to secure a printing deal with a publisher at a later date. These podcast novelists also claim the exposure that releasing a free podcast gains them makes up for the fact that they are giving away their work for free.

Video podcasts

A video podcast on the Crab Nebula by NASA

A video podcast (sometimes shortened to "vodcast") includes video clips. Web television series are often distributed as video podcasts.

Dead End Days (2003-2004) is commonly believed to be the first video podcast. That serialized dark comedy about zombies was broadcast from 31 October 2003 through 2004.

Since the spread of the Internet and the use of Internet broadband connection TCP, which helps to identify various applications, a faster connection to the Internet has been created and a wide amount of communication has been created. Video podcasts have become extremely popular online and are often presented as short video clips, usually excerpts of a longer recording. Video clips are being used on pre-established websites, and increasing numbers of websites are being created solely for the purpose of hosting video clips and podcasts. Video podcasts are being streamed on intranets and extranets, and private and public networks, and are taking communication through the Internet to whole new levels.

Most video clips are now submitted and produced by individuals. Video podcasts are also being used for web television, commonly referred to as Web TV, a rapidly growing genre of digital entertainment that uses various forms of new media to deliver to an audience both reruns of shows or series and content created or delivered originally online via broadband and mobile networks, web television shows, or web series. Examples include Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix Original Programming. Other types of video podcasts used for web television may be short-form, anywhere from 2–9 minutes per episode, typically used for advertising, video blogs, amateur filming, journalism, and convergence with traditional media. Some popular video podcasts include the Yogpod and Rooster Teeth, which are both featured on iTunes, YouTube, and their own website.

Video podcasting is also helping build businesses, especially in the sales and marketing sectors. Through video podcasts, businesses both large and small can advertise their wares and services in a modern, cost-effective way. In the past, big businesses had better access to expensive studios where sophisticated advertisements were produced, but now even the smallest businesses can create high-quality media with just a camera, editing software, and the Internet.

Uses

Main article: Uses of podcasting

Communities use collaborative podcasts to support multiple contributors podcasting through generally simplified processes, and without having to host their own individual feeds. A community podcast can also allow members of the community (related to the podcast topic) to contribute to the podcast in many different ways. This method was first used for a series of podcasts hosted by the Regional Educational Technology Center at Fordham University in 2005. Gronstedt explores how businesses like IBM and EMC use podcast as an employee training and communication channel.

See also

• List of podcatchers
• List of podcasting companies
• MP3 blog
• Oggcast
• Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty
• Screencast
• User-generated content
• Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2005-12-05

External links

• Podcasting at Wikibooks
• The dictionary definition of podcast at Wiktionary
• Media related to Podcasts at Wikimedia Commons
• Creative Commons Podcasting Legal Guide