General: Podcasting is a new method of distributing digital content via the internet. Podcasters post digital media (i.e. MP3 audio files or .MOV video files) to the internet and then facilitate distribution by making their site content available for “pod catching” in an RSS feed. Podcatchers are pieces of software that can automatically download the podcasts that you subscribe to when new content is available.

A Bit About RSS: RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a text format invented by a gentleman named Dave Winer that allows people to make information about their posts to websites available to people who utilize news aggregators. A news aggregator is a program that checks the status of an RSS feed and updates when new content is available. Many news sites like Yahoo and The New York Times make feeds available for anyone who wants to grab them. Some popular news aggregators are NewsGator, Radio UserLand ,OnFolio and My Yahoo.

Dave Winer further developed version 2.0 of RSS which allows links to media to be embedded in the text of an RSS feed. In 2004, Adam Curry, an entrepreneur, disc jockey and former MTV Video Jockey (VJ) decided to create a program that could find a specific data feed on the internet, download the content linked to that feed and then transfer the content to a portable music device, like the iPod. Hence, podcasting was born.

Podcast producers create and distribute media using RSS feeds. Podcast listeners use “pod catching” software to download the content and listen either on their computer or a portable music player.

Pod Catching Software: If you’re looking to automatically download podcast content then you should get yourself some software to make that happen. You can subscribe using a program that you install on your computer or use a number of web based services as follows:

Pod Catch Client Software: iTunes, iPodder Juice Receiver (Mac,Win,Linux), iPodderX (Mac), Doppler Radio (Win), jPodder (Win, Linux) or Nimiq (Mac).

Web Based Subscription: Yahoo Podcasts, Odeo, Podcast Pickle, Big Contact or PodNova.