Issue #60
Last Update October 22, 2008
Technology Podcasts by Sten Grynir November 16, 2007 Transmission of the spoken word to a mass audience has undergone a radical change since 1900. Prior to the advent of commercial radio with Pittsburgh's KDKA in 1920 and ???, speaking and presenting music to an audience was restricted to public oratory and concert, theater and opera halls, none of which was audible to more than a few thousand people at a time, and usually to not more than a few tens or hundreds.
Radio, the first audible mass communications medium, boosted the listening audience to tens and hundreds of thousands, and, with the advent of networks, to millions. Film and television added a visual dimension, and enlarged potential audiences still further. All of these media, however, were centralized organizations and required hefty capital investment to get into the game.
Cable TV and satellite radio were originally solutions to technological problems: cable was a community antenna bringing TV service to communities where over-the-air reception was poor or nonexistent; satellite radio brought digitization and nationwide coverage. Cable evolved into a method of serving niche markets, where a smaller number of viewers with special interests became a viable audience as a result of bundling of channels. Satellite radio became, in effect, the audio equivalent of cable, with the added advantage of being able to listen to the same "station" as one drives cross country.
The internet, however, has been as revolutionary in its way as radio was. Like radio, it is available in the home, the office, and on the move. It is also capable of easily providing its content off-line for asynchronous use; that is, the content can be used (listened to) at a time other than when it was disseminated. Most importantly, the cost of entry for someone wanting to create and distribute audio content has dropped to essentially zero. Where broadcasting and cable broadened audience, the internet has broadened content providers as well.
There are essentially two styles of internet broadcast: downloadable files, usually in a compressed format like mp3 or WMA, and streaming audio, where you listen in "real time", rather than waiting for the entire file to download. Video offers the same two choices.
These audio or video offerings are the internet equivalent of radio or television programs, and are known as podcasts. The term itself comes from Portable On Demand (POD) broadcasts (casts). Podcasts are downloaded from websites. Although some cost money, most are free. You subscribe to a podcast using a program such as iTunes or Juice, which keep track of your subscriptions, update your podcast library when new issues of a subscribed podcast become available, and allow you to play the podcasts on your computer. You can also off-load the podcasts onto a portable device (mp3 player, iPod or cell phone) for playback while you are traveling or just away from your computer. The podcast client program can be downloaded for free.
How do you find podcasts to subscribe to? A number of websites act as portals for podcast subscription. iTunes and Podcast Alley are two of the most comprehensive. These categorize the podcasts, provide a short description, and allow subscribers to rate them. Most NPR stations allow you to subscribe on their websites to the large number of podcasts they support, often versions of their regular programming. It being the internet, national boundaries are invisible. It is just as easy to subscribe to a Canadian, British, German or Japanese podcast as it is to subscribe to an American one.
Politics, humor, science and technology, religion, music, business and entertainment are just some of the podcast categories. Whatever your interests or political bent there are podcasts that will fit your need. And, if you feel you have something to contribute to the national discourse, you can create your own podcast. All it takes is a free or inexpensive piece of software, a microphone and sound card in your computer, and a place to host it. Everyone can have his or her own program. This makes for a fine, democratic cacophony, with opinions of all shades contesting in the marketplace of ideas. Thought has not been this free, and audiences this available, since the pamphleteers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Dip in. Sample the podcasts. Build your own free, virtual radio station for that long drive across country. Create your own radio program to display your ideas, talents and interests. Welcome to Podcast World.
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