A podcasting primer
Download music and commentary to your PC or portable media player
By Mara Gulens
The world now has more podcasts than radio stations and Matthew Arbeid, a Toronto father of three, is one of millions of people who tunes in regularly. “I listen in the car, walking to school, walking the dog. It depends on the trip and the purpose,” says the computer professional.
The New Oxford American English Dictionary hailed podcast as its word of the year in 2005 and defined the term as “a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar programme, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.” At a gathering of Online News Association journalists, Canadian podcasters put it even more succinctly: a podcast is on-demand, downloadable media.
A growing phenomenon
Podcasting has been around officially since late 2004. According to Podcasting News, podcasting is one of the fastest-growing technologies of all time and is increasing about 15 per cent every month.
“We realized that podcasting was a whole new channel of communication” at a Bloggercon conference in November 2004, says Richard Sharp, CEO of PodChannels Inc.
Over the past two years, thousands of podcasts have sprung up. Non-profit radio stations, such as the CBC, BBC and NPR, have been among the first companies to get on board. Nowadays, you can get podcasts of everything: museum tours, university lectures and even magazines.
North America has more podcasts than radio stations and yet, according to Sharp, “we’re still at the early-adopter phase.” Many large corporations are still gearing up to deliver; we can expect a huge new wave of programming.
Not just for kids
Young people typically first consume new technologies, but middle-aged people adopt podcasts twice as fast as younger people, says Sharp. Although the technology is easy to use, audio programming is considered “long-form media,” he says. A podcast is not scannable like a web page or an instant message, and a podcast prompts listeners to deeper thinking. It also allows access to niche programming.
“Podcasts opened up an information experience in life spaces where media couldn’t reach before,” says Sharp. For example, if you’re sitting in a car or being physically active, you can listen to something without it interfering with what you’re doing.
In fact, The Economist placed podcasts in the middle of the age of participatory media, where “the boundaries between audiences and creators become blurred and invisible.” Similar media include blogs, vlogs and wikis which allow people to take and make what they want.
Podcasters — the people who produce podcasts — come from all walks of life and include everyone from accountants to musicians to naturopaths.
How to get podcasts
Although about 60 per cent of people listen to podcasts on their PCs, a true podcast occurs when someone downloads the audio program to a phone or audio device, says Sharp. Most major cell phone carriers provide podcast directories.
To get started, ask your friends what podcasts they like listening to, or visit one of many online directories — such as iTunes, Podcast Alley, Odeo, Mevio or CanadaPodcasts — to discover what’s available. Then pick an audio program about any topic imaginable, in any language, from any corner of the globe.
Podcasts vary in length. Some provide unique content for three minutes per day; the CBC podcasts its most popular radio show, Ideas, in 52 minutes.
To subscribe to podcasts, listeners use RSS readers which indicate when new episodes have been released. You can also listen to podcasts directly from a content provider’s web site or download a file to your desktop.
Arbeid docks his iPod every night so that any new episodes are transferred from his computer by morning. Particularly keen on independent Canadian music, Arbeid thrives on CBC Radio 3 and its French equivalent Bande À Part. His kids prefer vidcasts (video podcasts) from the Wiggles, Barney and Schoolhouse Rock!
Most podcasts are free. Paid subscription services tend to be few and far between, says Sharp. He believes the producers of podcasts should focus on creating relationships with their audience rather than on monetizing.
And in this fast new world, says Sharp, advertisers have 10 seconds to make their point before listeners tune out.
