Podcasting Made Easy w/ Master Resell Rights

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as it is now known was actually pioneered in June 2003 by an Internet publisher and radio programmer. The programmer used RSS methods to grab a collection of audio files, aggregate them into a "program" and make this available for download in an mp3 type of format. A global phenomenon was born.

Discover How to Boost Your Online Profits With Podcasting

By fall of 2003 the methodology spread to the world of blogging and universities, and shortly thereafter the word was coined and Internet "radio," which had been around in various formats for a decade, was about to be completely transformed along with the music business due to the instant success and near-ubiquity of the Apple iPod. By late 2004 Podcasting ­ a portmanteau combining "iPod" and "broadcasting" ­ was all the rage, with everyone from media companies to small entrepreneurs to Apple itself trying to get on the bandwagon. As much a misnomer as a made-up word, podcasting (the word) is unlikely to be displaced anytime soon ­ but as Shakespeare said, a rose by any other name...

What A Difference A Year Makes!
In September 2004, Google had less than 25 hits for "Podcasting." By September 2005, Google produced more than ­ get this ­ 61 million hits!

You Don't Actually Need a "Pod" ­ Or To Know How to "Cast"
"Podcasting" is a misnomer because neither the creator or aggregator of content, nor its users or "audience," actually needs to have an iPod at all. Any device that can handle digital audio files, which includes not just the iPod but all brands and formats of mp3 and digital audio devices, as well as all PCs and other devices like recent-generation PDA products and even many cell phones, can be used to listen to podcast materials.

Podcasting is in fact a new digital approach to an old concept, the most common and recent of which is the VCR. A show is on at a certain time, you can't watch it then, so you tape it, and watch it when you want to. Podcasting: · · · · Allows you to listen to programming wherever, whenever, and as often as you want Does not require access to any broadcast medium, including the Internet, once downloaded to your playback device Allows you to reorder or rearrange programming as easily as changing songs Is completely unregulated

Discover How to Boost Your Online Profits With Podcasting

The podcasting concept does away with the formal broadcast "schedule" (in most cases) as well as offering no direct metaphor for the VCR or the tape, since a huge variety of devices can play the material, the "program" in fact exists in a format designed to be portable, and in most cases, designed to be only listened to when each member of the audience prefers ­ no schedule at all. So actually, podcasts are not "broadcast" in any conventional sense of that word, but rather distributed directly or through aggregation or syndication methods of various kinds. They may be a on a timed feed or production schedule, but they are not "broadcast" until you download them and click play, and in fact, are never "broadcast" at all, but simply played back by one listener at a time. Podcasting is also a method of distributing real-life event coverage or recordings, so in that sense, the VCR analog is even more accurate. A lot of public and political speeches, including those by President George W. Bush, are now available i
n podcast format for listening later. Whether made at the White House or your house, the technology required to produce a podcast is very minimal, as is the technical know-how, though like making any audio recording or a video, you can go low-end or very high-end, depending on your goals. What this means for the prospective podcaster is that any interesting audio material ­ music, talk, plays and indeed, not limited to audio but perhaps to include video clips or images, assuming the playback device can support them ­

can be assembled using equipment that is inexpensive and, probably, already in any reasonably equipped home office, office, or college dorm room. Most of the software you need to make and listen to podcasts is free. Most of the hardware you need, you probably already have.

Discover How to Boost Your Online Profits With Podcasting

Then again, major retailers are starting to sell podcasting "kits" as well ­ which we'll get into a little below. As illustrated by the difference just one year makes in the number of Podcast mentions on the Internet, and the fact that "official" scheduled/branded podcast "programming" leapt from just a few shows to more than 3500 during that same year, along with more than 2500 Internet audio streams of regular radio station broadcasts (though many of those predate the podcasting trend). The number of irregular and unofficial podcasts ­ such as downloadable audio streams attached to blogs ­ is undoubtedly many thousands more and growing daily. While traditional broadcasters like radio stations can leverage the Internet and its portable cousin podcasting, unlike traditional broadcasting, Internet radio and especially podcasting are unregulated, unlimited, require no special licensing, no special equipment, and basically nothing but the desire to create and distribute programs! And while the trend started on,
and continues with, the iPod and iTunes, you are in no way bound to that platform.

iTunes or no iTunes?
Yes. Exactly! While iTunes makes the subscription model easy ­ iPod users can get automatic subscription updates/downloads each time they connect, and the podcast area of iTunes is getting bigger daily ­ it is in no way necessary.