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Page 1 of 5 This article follows up on the Lunchtime Technology Taster from 15th December at the Institute of Education. It provides a basic definition of Podcasts as well as some background reference, including sources for further information. View Full Article View Event Announcment Contact the author: Tim Neumann
What is a Podcast? Podcasts are audio files broadcast through the Internet using a subscription model. Users can either manually download these files, or they can subscribe to a feed and have new file releases delivered automatically to their podcatcher or aggregator, which is a podcast-receiving software application. The audio files can easily be transferred to a mobile audio/MP3 playback device. Note: MP3 refers to an audio coding algorithm that is used to reduce the file size of audio files to make them suitable for web delivery. Some podcasts may use a different coding algorithm, such as Ogg Vorbis, which may require specialised software for playback. Podcasting can be compared to a radio-on-demand service. Whereas aerial and Internet streaming radio stations require listeners to tune in at a specific time, pre-produced Podcasts are archived on an Internet server and can be accessed whenever it is convenient for the end user. The term Podcast is a combination of the words iPod (Apple's famous MP3 player, see here) and the term broadcasting. Podcasts, however, do not require an iPod, but can be played back with any MP3 compatible device, including software such as Windows Media Player or Quicktime. Every modern computer is equipped with an MP3 compatible player. Synonyms and Related Terms Podcasts are also known as: - AudioBlogs
- MP3Blogs
- MP3-enclosed RSS feed
Related Terms: - Blog
- RSS
- VideoBlog, vBlog, Vlog, Vodcasting, Vidcasting
- Learncasting, Mobilecasting, Narrowcasting, Soundseeing
Web Resources: Podcast definitions Wikipedia article: Podcasting Podcasting Tutorial & Intro
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