I have to share my latest interest/obsession with you all: podcasting. I had a small sliver of my brain interested in it for a while now, slowly gathering data about it and this weekend, it finally hit critical mass. I couldn't tell you why. But I found myself on Fri night downloading iPodder and subscribing to 10 different podcasts.
What, you may ask, am I blathering about? Well, my friend, I am blathering about the latest and greatest (well prolly not, but it rhymes) form of entertainment. By now we're all aware of site feeds, little xml-formatted pages that allow aggregators to get the latest headlines from our sites (jesser.org's is here in case you want to see it). And we all know about mp3s. Basically, podcasting merges the two. Folks make podcasts, record them in mp3 format and then syndicate them using an XML feed. Podcast software allows you to subscribe to these feeds and will then download them to your computer for you when they're updated.I use iPodder because I don't use iTunes which hwas podcasting built-in. But once cute little iPodder had downloaded the syndicated mp3s, I loaded them onto my DellDJ to take with me to work, the gym, etc. Best of all, there's podcasts for just about every taste. Here are some of my faves:
* Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht appeal to my nerd side with Diggnation, a run-down of the best Diggs from the week
* Sister Diane appeals to my craty side with her lovely podcast, CraftyPod
* my boy-wizard luvin side gets its fix with MuggleCast and PotterCast
* and I can indluge those Sybil days with Odeo, PodCastAlley or any of a zillion other podcast directories out there already
Don't be intimidated. Try it now!! It's fun and easy. All the cool kids are doing it. Leave me a comment if you have questions. It's worth it, honest!
My husband is into it too.
I've been hearing about these for a while but I 've never heard one. So, is it like a voice recording? Do you need a microphone to start one? Can you download them like iTunes? I know I probably sound silly, but I've been curious for a while and I don't quite understand WHAT a podcast is.
For all intents and purposes, it sounds like a radio broadcast, but with slightly better quality. They have lead-ins and bumpers and theme music and guests and phone interviews … you just get them on demand instead of catching them as you can.