What is Podcasting?
In the simplest sense, think of a Podcast as a pre-recorded radio broadcast that
you can access and listen to at your convenience. Almost all Podcasts are available
as standard MP3 files, so they are playable on any MP3 device. Once you know how to
access a Podcast, you can either listen to them online
or download them to your computer or MP3 player to enjoy offline.
Each Podcast consists of a set of MP3 audio files for each show or 'episode',
while a seperate RSS file provides the information about the show as well as additional
information for each episode. (see an explanation of RSS files below).
What are Video Podcasts (or Vodcasting)?
A video Podcast is exactly the same as a normal Podcast, except video files
are used instead of audio files. Video Podcasts are still fairly new, so you
may find several different video formats used by these sites. Make a note of
the format shown next to the download link as you'll have to make sure you have
a compatible player before being able to view these files. Currently, most video
podcasts use MP4 files and are formatted for video Ipods. Because of this, we suggest
you install Quicktime for playing these files. Podcast Fusion includes a popup
Quicktime player for viewing these files online while you continue to browse. You can
find the latest version of Quicktime at:
[ http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html ]
Who are these Podcasters?
Good question. Many are national and international news services, professional
sportscasters, syndicated talk show hosts and world-renowned entertainers.
Of course, they can also be your next door neighbor. Essentially, anyone with
a microphone, a computer and access to the internet can be a podcaster. Obviously,
this lends itself to a wide gap in the potential quality of many podcasts -
but it also opens the door to a wide variety of content available. You'll find
that many of the most popular podcasts available today are created by regular
people with no previous broadcasting experience who simply have a passion for
a particular subject. Podcasting gives them a voice.
So, find that improvisational jazz channel you've always been looking for, or
listen to real geeks talk about video games - while they play them. Subscribe
to your favorite news and talk programs and listen to them when it's most convenient
for you. Podcasting gives you the flexibility to design your own on-demand radio
programming.
How much does it cost to access a Podcast?
Currently, almost all podcasts available today are free. All of the Podcasts
found on Podcast Fusion are free. Find the ones you like, and listen to them
when you want to.
Where do the actual Podcasts reside?
Each Podcast resides on the individual Podcaster's server, not Podcast Fusion's
server. Podcast Fusion simply helps you find Podcasts of interest to you.
What is RSS? What is XML? What is OPML?
Let's start with
XML files. XML stands for 'eXtended Markup Languge'. Think
of an XML file as a simple, text-based database file. These files generally
contain a small packet of data that can be transmitted and read by any computer
system - so transferring them from place to place is very simple and OS independant.
Keep in mind that XML files can be formatted for many functions, so to use an XML file you have
to understand it's data structure.
RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication'. RSS files are simply an XML
file that uses a standardized data structure. The RSS structure is generally used for
transferring news stories from services like CNN, Yahoo News, BBC News, etc. - so they
always include 'channel' information that tells where the feed came from, and then
multiple 'item' records for each news story.
The RSS format also happens to work very well for Podcasts, as the 'channel'
data holds information about the show's originator, and each 'item' record in the file
holds a link to an audio or video file as well as some additional information
for each episode. As Podcasters create new episodes, they will add that information
to the RSS file so that users will always find up to date episodes and information
about their Podcast.
OPML stands for Outline Processor Media Language. OPML files can be used to
define a package of RSS links, meaning that you can store the RSS links for
multiple Podcast sites in a single OPML file. This is useful for transferring
a group of RSS links at one time to a desktop application, like Juice, for synchronization
to your desktop or MP3 player.
For more in-depth information on these file formats, select one of the links below:
