


Podcasts can be produced at little to no cost and are usually disseminated free-of-charge, which sets this medium apart from the traditional 20th-century model of "gate-kept" media and their production tools. Podcasting has been considered a converged medium (a medium that brings together audio, the web and portable media players), as well as a disruptive technology that has caused some individuals in radio broadcasting to reconsider established practices and preconceptions about audiences, consumption, production and distribution. Most podcast players or applications allow listeners to skip around the podcast and to control the playback speed. Many of these applications allow users to download podcasts or stream them on demand. There are several different mobile applications that allow people to follow and listen to podcasts. Podcast files can be stored locally on the user's device, or streamed directly. This process can be automated to download new files automatically, so it may seem to listeners as though podcasters broadcast or " push" new episodes to them. The listener or viewer uses special client application software on a computer or media player, known as a podcast client, which accesses this web feed, checks it for updates, and downloads any new files in the series. Podcasting studio in What Cheer Writers Club in Providence, Rhode IslandĪ podcast generator maintains a central list of the files on a server as a web feed that one can access through the Internet. These files may then be uploaded to streaming services, which users can listen to on their smartphones or digital music and multimedia players, like an iPod.Īs of Augthere are at least 2,864,367 podcasts and 135,736,875 episodes.

Podcasting is the preparation and distribution of audio files using RSS feeds to the computers of subscribed users. Because podcast content is often free, podcasting is often classified as a disruptive medium, adverse to the maintenance of traditional revenue models. In other cases, a podcast could be a business venture supported by some combination of a paid subscription model, advertising or product delivered after sale. Some are underwritten by corporations or sponsored, with the inclusion of commercial advertisements. The cost to the consumer is low, with many podcasts free to download. Many podcast series provide an associated website with links and show notes, guest biographies, transcripts, additional resources, commentary, and even a community forum dedicated to discussing the show's content. Podcasts combine elaborate and artistic sound production with thematic concerns ranging from scientific research to slice-of-life journalism. Discussion and content within a podcast can range from carefully scripted to completely improvised. Ī podcast series usually features one or more recurring hosts engaged in a discussion about a particular topic or current event. There also exist podcast search engines, which help users find and share podcast episodes. Streaming applications and podcasting services provide a convenient and integrated way to manage a personal consumption queue across many podcast sources and playback devices. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. The Serial podcast being played through the Pocket Casts app on an iPhoneĪ podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet.
