Podcasting for the Plebian& the Latest in Internet Technology Decoded

Summary

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Though podcasts have only been around since Adam Curry launched the first in August 2004, the topic already encompasses enough complexity to warrant a "where to begin" dilemma and add another 20 or so words to Webster's Dictionary. For starters, podcasting is the revolutionary art dubbed "a grassroots rebellion" against commercial airwaves by Wired magazine, and "the TiVo of Radio" by virtually all other media-savvy publications. Inherently a radio show listeners subscribe to online, podcasts use blog syndication technology RSS feeds to download home-made shows directly into MP3 players.

Curry's claim to newfound podcasting fame, is via the iPodder-his pseudo hybrid invention of the blog and the Apple MP3 player. The former '80s VJ who enraptured MTV viewers till 1994, Curry has initiated a phenomenon that gives a voice to anyone with the inkling to produce a show. At the moment, most podcasts are of the amateur variety but can range from anything as wacky as Chris Rockwell's Daily Download (literally comprising his ramblings while he takes a dump), to the BBC's experimentation with the medium for official news coverage. While the BBC can easily sponsor itself, Rockwell states on his Web site, "My ultimate goal is to have a toilet paper company sponsor me with a years worth of toilet paper to take the place of the cheap stuff my wife buys." So to help out a fella, visit chris@apeboymonkeygirl.com.

When it is a household term synonymous with Adam Curry and indie music-podcasting may somehow no longer be free, so take advantage now and start, uh, podding. Especially with signs of advanced interest emerging to foreshadow future costs of podcast downloads, such as Industrial Audio Software (IAS) announcing their iPodcast Producer on March 2. The iPodcast Producer is the world's first completely integrated software package combining recording, editing, RSS feed creation, and FTP uploading, according to IAS. Though that's true and it's not a rip-off by any means, the unnecessary iPodcast Producer is really the byproduct from the world's first company to find a way to make a buck out of the whole podcasting buzz.

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Extract

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Podcasting for the Plebian& the Latest in Internet Technology Decoded

Though podcasts have only been around since Adam Curry launched the first in August 2004, the topic already encompasses enough complexity to warrant a "where to begin" dilemma and add another 20 or so words to Webster's Dictionary. For starters, podcasting is the revolutionary art dubbed "a grassroots rebellion" against commercial airwaves by Wired magazine, and "the T...

See the full content of this document

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