After researching podcasting a bit, and checking the reviews of mp3 players in PC Mag, I decided against getting an iPod, and instead ordered the iRiver H320 20 GB mp3 player from Amazon. It differs from the iPod in that it has FM reception and can record.
What’s the big deal with podcasting? Well, if I’d had the iRiver at the Counter-Inaugural demonstration on Thursday, I could have recorded Ron Kovic’s impassioned speech as an MP3, uploaded it to PoliZeros, attached it to my RSS feed, then anyone who has a Podcast receiver would automatically get the audio file downloaded to their mp3 player. This is way cool stuff indeed. Podcasting is in its infancy, in a year or so it’ll be huge.
Receiving podcasts is easy. Download the free, open source iPodder. Choose the feeds you want. It’ll download them automatically. Plug the mp3 player into the computer and it’ll suck the podcasts in. No user intervention needed!
There are now a few hundred podcast shows. The best known is Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code, an excellent mixture of geek talk, podcasting news, and music. He also spearheaded the creation of iPodder. I expect many more shows and new uses for podcasting to be appearing in the next few months.
The is radio, but radio on demand, when you want to listen to it. With a $40 add-on, your mp3 player can broadcast via your car radio (or any radio) so you can listen to shows in the car or another room or another house.
LINKS
iPodder podcast receiver
Ipodder.org. The resource for the iPod platform.
Wikipedia podcasting
A few podcast shows
Podcast.net. A comprehensive list of podcast shows.
The following links are for the website. Use iPodder to subscribe to the rss feed and receive the podcasts.
Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code
Dave Winer’s The Scripting News
Dave Slusher’s Evil Genius Chronicles
How To
How to podcast – both ways (send and receive)
On the receiving end, podcasting is easy. Get iPodder and plug your mp3 player in the computer. On the sending end, podcasting gets more complex. However, if you blog, and your blog software is Radio Userland like this blog, then it’s simple, as Radio supports enclosures. When you post the entry, just add the file location and, bang, anyone with a podcast receiver will get the file in their mp3 player. Other blog software also supports podcasting too.
Podcasting is quite new. New and inventive uses of podcasting will be (and already are!) popping up. Anyone out there podcasting? Let me know!