General Question

gailcalled's avatar

What's a podcast?

Asked by gailcalled (54644points) April 13th, 2007
Is is important to have? What equipment necessary?Will it work w. dial-up ( video streaming doesn't, due to slooooowwwwnesss of download? Where will it all end? How can I learn about these things if I don't know what "these things"are? I have a desktop Mac 10.4.9 OS.
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12 Answers

occ's avatar
here's the definition on wikipedia:
occ's avatar
basically, a podcast is an audio broadcast, but instead of going out over radio waves, it gets sent to your computer where you can listen on your mac or ipod
occ's avatar
it's like an audio subscription, so if there's a new podcast every day or once a week, it gets sent to you automatically and you can listen whenever you have time.
gailcalled's avatar
Can you store the audio in a file w/o an iPod? If so, how? Do you have to buy software? Or is the iPod a necessary piece of equipment?
gailcalled's avatar
The wiki article is too technologically complicated for me to understand right now. My brain is on overload w. other issues. As I have written before, I find it hard to keep up w. it all.
ben's avatar
1.) No iPod needed... you'll be fine with just a computer. 2.) No, it's all free. The easiest and best software for you will be iTunes, which is already installed on your Mac. 3.) A fun place to start exploring free podcasts in odeo.com (
ben's avatar
you may see a "subscribe in iTunes" button on certain items at odeo. You can press that to automatically keep downloading that audio show. That's all a podcast really is: an audio file that gets downloaded automatically. )
gailcalled's avatar
Ben, you have inherited the "teaching clearly" gene. I do, indeed, have iTunes, but since I haven't ever used it, I have never bothered to update the software. So my version must be from the Pleistine age, or at least 2004, when I had 10.4 installed.
gailcalled's avatar
I'll do some research after our next snowstorm starts, tomorrow afternoon.
podcastcoach's avatar

You don’t need to be a geek. If you can upload a file, and use Microsoft word you can podcast. I have helped people in the late 60’s do podcasts (so you don’t need to be young either). Its a great way to reach the WORLD (unlike normal radio). You can get started for next to nothing, and have hundreds, and thousands of people networking with you. It’s awesome. I have a video that kind of shows “the geek” stuff at http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/whatisit/

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