Current Research Topic: Podcasting

A podcast is a digital media file; a series of files that is distributed over the internet using syndication feeds for playback on things ranging from portable media players to personal computers. A podcast is a specific type of webcast which can mean either the content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; this latter usage is also termed as podcasting.

A podcast is a collection of files residing at a unique web feed address. People can then access this feed by submitting the feed address to an aggregator. When new files become available in the podcast, they will then be automatically downloaded to that specific user's computer. Unlike radio or streaming content on the web, podcasts are not functioning on real-time. This material is pre-recorded and users can access the material at their own leisure offline.

“Though podcasters' web sites may offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically, using an aggregator or feed reader capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.”

Certain podcasts can even be live and interactive. Many users can be on at once, with the host being able to control their audience in the same way a radio host can.

There are many uses for Podcasting in today’s world. In Public Services, Unofficial audio tours of museums to Official cultural or historic audio tours of cities. It is A way for news organizations to distribute audio or video as an addition to their existing text (or mostly text) news products. Companies are also using podcasts as a way to distribute their multimedia news to journalists and consumers through other companies. podcasting has become a way for youth media organizations to bring youth perspectives to a wider audience. Public libraries can podcast local publications free of copyright, offering spoken word alternatives to the visually impaired. Non-profit organizations like assistive media podcast readings of short-format magazine articles for visually impaired readers. But the uses continue in fields such as Education & Academia enabling students and teachers to share information with anyone anytime. If a student is absent, he or she can download the podcast of the recorded lesson. It can be a tool for teachers or administrators to communicate curriculum, assignments and other information with parents and the community. Teachers can record book talks, vocabulary or foreign language lessons, international pen pal letters, music performance, interviews, debates. podcasting can be a publishing tool for student oral presentations. Podcasting is used along with entertainment, news. music, publicity & marketing, health and other non-traditional & Alternative Content

Making your first podcast has become a relatively easy process. First, create your audio content. The content can be anything you like, including audio books, music, "radio" type shows, interviews, or even sermon. There's no formula for creating the audio content. In fact, one of the beauties of podcasting is that your shows can be anything that you want them to be. There are already podcasts of all sorts.

It also doesn't matter what platform or application you use to record the audio. Save your finished audio show at maximum quality in the native format of your audio application. That way you can go back and edit it or reuse it and you'll have a good version. Now, convert the file to MP3 format. Once you have your audio content, you need to save it in MP3 format. MP3 is the defacto standard format for podcasts. Stick with MP3 unless you've got a very good reason for using another format. Using anything but MP3 will mean that some users may not be able to use your podcast. Use the minimum bit rate that provides good results. Make sure you save it with an .mp3 file extension. Next Publish your MP3. Save your MP3 files to your web server, and test them with any MP3 player. The files can go anywhere on your site, but you may want to put all of them into one directory, so they are easy to find and manage. Followed by creating your podcast newsfeed. Podcast feeds are RSS files that describe your podcast, along with information for each show. An RSS file is just a text file that links to your MP3 file. You can use any text editor to create an RSS news feed. However, most podcasters use blogging programs or other applications to automatically generate newsfeeds. If you have a blogging tool that lets you reference enclosures, just create an item for each MP3 file you publish, and use URL of the audio content as your enclosure. If your blogging tool doesn't support enclosures yet, don't worry, it will soon because of the popularity of podcasts

In the meantime, you can edit your RSS file with any text editor to add an enclosure tag. RSS newsfeeds normally feature news Items that contain a Title, Link, and Description. Each item in a news feed provides meta-information about a URL on the web. In the case of a podcast newsfeed, each Item describes the content of an audio file referenced by the enclosure URL. Save your RSS file with an .rss or .xml extension. Normally, you'll want to have one news feed that contains all of your recent podcasts, ordered from newest to oldest. Now all you need to do is Publish your podcast news feed. transfer your podcast RSS file to your webserver, like you would any other content. Validate it using an online RSS validator. If the podcast news feed is valid, it's ready to be published to the web.

                You can listen to podcasts not only by ipods but also mp3 players and through Listening by using any RSS feed aggregator that supports RSS 2.0 In this configuration the news aggregator becomes the "pod-catcher."  Then you can link out to whatever your computer uses for listening to mp3's, such as Windows Media Player, Quicktime, MusicMatch, etc. Most people can watch or listen to podcasts for free, and watch or listen to them through your mp3 player, windows media player, music match, and many more.  All you need is a computer with a internet cable, preferably with a high speed connection.  While many people believe that podcasts can only be used through ipod that is not the case, it may however be on of the easiest ways to access a podcast.  Through successful marketing strategy ipod has a pretty good strangle hold on the podcasting industry, while there are still some emerging threats to their crown, such as limewire and aol are also starting to incorporate podcasting into their database.

Did I mention I love listening to music?  Not only do I have a large MP3 collection, 4 or 5 streaming sites that I listen to and another 10 or so radio stations, but I also enjoy listening to a few podcasts.
There are 2 basic ways of listening to a podcast.  The first is to stream it-that is the broadcast comes from the podcast server and plays on your computer.  The second method is to download the podcast and then play it back on your computer or mp3 player.  I prefer the latter method because sometimes streaming feeds can be slow and choppy or sometimes just eat up too many CPU resources.  If you download the podcast, you simply store it on your system and play it at your convenience. There are literally hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there and music is just one genre of podcasting.  If you look at the list of top 50 podcasts on Podcast Alley, you'll see less than 10% of them are music.  So it's necessary to do a little digging to find music podcasts that appeal to your taste and are well done, because virtually anyone can put together a podcast. The sites you can search besides Podcast Alley include Podsafe Audio, Podcasting News, and Liberated Syndication.  Search for music podcasts and you'll get lots of results If you want to download a podcast it is best to use a downloader specifically designed for that purpose.

As we have discussed above, there are many pros and cons that arrive with the addition of Pod casting. Since this day and age is so technologically advanced, we must do our best and keep up with the times. Students are being taught constantly with computers, as well as a vast amount of other technology. Without it, many would not do as well in school and once they reach a college level, will become lost.

We at Wahnschaff and Associates are dedicated to higher technology needs and believe Podcasting will only add to the technology experience. We strongly recommended that all people interested in using podcasts do so, and follow the steps above to create and or listen to them. With all the pressure that comes with the need for new and better technology, podcasts have met a demand for some of these issues. Wahnschaff and Associates also believes in the importance of Podcasting in your personal world. From reading books, to watching your favorite TV shows you might have missed or would just like to see again.  It is a great median for people to take advantage of.

Wahnschaff and Associates wants to incorporate podcasting into every persons home by the year 2010. We believe that by allowing this to happen, every person can experience this technology and have the ease of listening to your favorite movies, TV shows, radio shows and so forth with a click of the button. Please allow us to assist you in meeting your podcasting needs. We are here for the convenience of everyone who is in need of using a podcast. We believe in this product and its goals and are proud to say we support this technological advance fully and completely