Podcasting

I could spend this whole post writing about how annoyed I am about the origins of the word 'podcast'. In its reference to the 'Ipod' it makes my hair stand on end. Contrary to its name, however, 'podcast' hasn't really been claimed as a trademark of Apple Corporation, nor was podcast technology invented or licensed by Apple, podcasts are not affected by DRM, and they are not restricted to playback on Apple hardware or via Apple Itunes or Apple Quicktime. In as much as the 'pod' in podcast is a brand-specific reference by fans of Apple Corporation, it is inaccurate and misleading.

Podcasts contain free audio files that are not restricted in any way. Because they use the popular MP3 file format, they are playable on virtually every device, from your computer to any MP3 player or modern phone. You can download them and save them and play them back whenever you want. In technical terms the podcast stream itself is just a web feed with MP3 attachments (enclosures), so you can subscribe to a podcast in any feed reader that can see attachments. Most can, including Google Reader.

Before podcasting, websites that wanted to produce audio shows often fiddled around with proprietary file formats like Real Media and Windows Media which needed a vendor plug-in and restricted users' ability to download the file and play it back later. Audio and video were streamed and as such they were low quality and unreliable. Anyone wishing to produce audio programs in the Real or Windows Media formats faced largish costs and a fair amount of hassle. Even though MP3 has been around for a while and certainly pre-dates podcasts, it had a bit of a stigma attached to it as the format used for illegal file sharing, and I believe many publishers avoided it as they didn't want their content stolen.

I like to believe that the idea of podcasting came about as a reaction to the restrictions and proprietary file formats of larger publishers. The concept brought the idea that any Joe, with a microphone plugged into the computer, could record anything he want and make it available to young fashionable people who had hard drives or portable devices full of MP3s.

Podcasts can be created with free software, and can be served from any website with normal web server software. The lack of any significant cost involved in producing them is both a blessing and a curse. One the one hand, it means that it is relatively easy for any poor student with a bit of technical know-how to start broadcasting their opinion to their blog readers, or whoever should happen by their website. On the other hand, this has led to a large amount of content made with low production value, a poor understanding of audio or broadcasting, or a very narrow appeal. Indexing all this content so people can find it is especially challenging.

Nobody seems to have made a search engine for podcasts that satisfies me. There's no way of previewing the content on-screen to get a feel of their quality and relevance; you have to listen to them. Even with online videos (think YouTube) you can get a feel for whether it is a professional video or a home video of someone's dog doing somersaults from the thumbnail, which isn't available in a podcast directory.

Incidentally, it's possible to include video in a feed instead of audio, and some publishers are now producing what they call video podcasts. MP4 (which, ironically, started life as an Apple invention) is fast becoming a de facto standard for free, portable video with the h.264 format, though AVI files using the older MPEG-4 ASP format (sometimes called Divx) are also relatively common. Neither format has achieved the ubitquity that MP3 has with audio, but the latest mobile phones and portable audio/video devices can play MP4, and free video players such as VLC can play both.

Personally, I was very happy when the ABC and BBC websites started offering podcasts as an alternative to their streaming media, which relied on Real Media or Windows Media. I have downloaded and played back many podcasts from ABC radio shows, where I wouldn't have been bothered if the audio was only available in streaming formats.