Web Know It All

The Howard Stern Podcast Problem

A podcast client is the software used to access and
download podcasts. Podcast clients are also known as
media aggregators, programs designed to automatically
access an online file, or feed, and download the audio or
video file associated with it. Hundreds of these
programs exist, with names like IpodderX, Juice,
Nimiq, and PodSpider. These podcast clients are easy to
find, and because there are so many available for free, it
is easy to find one that suits an individuals needs and
style. These programs run on the users computer,
periodically downloading a small RSS file from sites
that it has been told to monitor. The file tells the
program about an audio or video file stored on the
server, and the podcast client then downloads that file
for the user to view or listen to.

Many podcasts are available to subscribe to and watch
in a variety of genres, and one of these is the comedy
podcast. Every small scale wannabe writer has a chance
to become a comedian through podcasting, since the
low entry cost allows people to start podcasting with
minimum effort and money. To find some of these
comedy podcasters, check a podcast directory. A
podcast directory is a listing of many, sometimes
several thousands, of podcasts submitted and divided
into categories. A podcast directory will probably have
a large number of comedy podcasts available to
subscribe to.

These comedy podcasts are usually created by a small
team of people who do the work in their free time, as a
hobby, not as a source of income. Because it is a hobby,
they're more willing to give the work away for free, for
nothing more than recognition, probably in the hopes
they can parlay that recognition into a more mainstream
job. Some more corporate groups also put together
comedy podcasts, however. The satirical comedy web
site TheOnion.com puts out a regular comedy podcast,
featuring readings from their fake news site.

Placing a comedy podcast on the Internet has several
advantages for the creators. They get to showcase their
work, easily distributing their art to many people. This
following is likely to be be unusually passionate,
following the artist with more enthusiasm than the
artist's average audience. The comedian has a chance to

Its easy to find and download a free podcast. The best
way to find free podcasts is probably to check a podcast
directory. A podcast directory is a listing of many,
sometimes thousands of different podcasts. The podcast
directory will usually organize the podcasts by topic and
genre, making it easy to find the type of podcast that is
sought. In addition, podcast directories often allow the
visitors to comment on the podcasts listed, and provide
a list of the favorite podcasts on the site, making it easy
for users to find the best podcasts available. These
podcast directories can be used to browse through,
introducing users to many different podcasts they
otherwise would not have found.

Once a podcast has been found that interests the user, it
is necessary to download the free podcast. The vast
majority of podcasts will be free, but there will be a few
that may cost a small amount of money. The process to
subscribe to and download the podcasts is the same in
either case. First, a podcast client needs to be found and
installed. There are many free podast clients available,
all providing a slightly different user interface and range
of options. They come with many different names, such
as Podscape, or Nimiq, and searching for 'free podcast
client' or something like it will turn up many
possibilities. When the podcast client has been
installed, inputting the feed address will allow the
podcast to be downloaded. The podcast client will
check the address given for a small, machine readable

With the rise of podcasting, many individuals and
organizations are finding that podcasting is a great way
to distribute information, from music and comedy
shows to talk shows, even podcast news. CNET is one
of the groups that is distributing a news podcast. CNET,
being an online technology site, naturally found a niche
distributing a tech news related podcast. CNET's recent
podcasts covered such topics as viruses that attack cell
phones, problems with Google's software, China's web
restrictions and the "Great Firewall of China", and the
FTC's attack on spyware. These news items were
distributed in a sound file called an mp3 file that is
downloadable to a listener's computer for listening
whenever they wish. While these files were available
straight from CNET's site, the majority of them are
shared through the use of an RSS file. An RSS file is a
small piece of XML coding that is downloadable by
programs designed to read it. These programs are called
podcast clients, and the user can input the address of the
RSS files that hold the information on the feed. The
feed will contain links to the media files of the podcast,
and will download the new updates automatically.

More sites than CNET are finding that podcast news is
an expoitable technology. The British Broadcasting
Corporation podcasts some of it's programs, as well as
the US radio network NPR. The NPR, because its work
is created by a variety of different groups, treats

There are many podcasts on PSP available. Some of
them simply share information on the PlayStation
Portable and distribute it to people interested in portable
gaming. These podcasts serve as news organizations,
sharing audio or visual files talking about the
PlayStation Portable and speculating about updates to
the PSP. The vast majority, however, take advantage of
the ability of the PlayStation Portable's ability to
download and play quality videos on the gaming screen.
Developers of the program PSP Video 9 first created a
program that could change videos from computer types
like .avi and .mpeg to the format used by the Play
Station Portable.

Once that was done, it was quickly possible to create
podcasts for the PSP. Podcasters began creating video

Anyone can easily find free podcast videos online.
There are numerous podcast directories online that can
help you find feeds to subscribe to, or you may find a
feed thats available from a site you enjoy. After looking
through the directories and finding a feed you want to
download, subscribe to it using one of the many free
podcast clients available. The podcast client will
automaticall download a small file called an RSS file,
which stands for Really Simple Syndication. The RSS
file tells your podcast client when there is a new file, in
this case a video, to download. Depending on your
client, the program will notify you or maybe even
download it automatically. Once the file is on your
computer, you'll be free to listen to it any time it is
convenient.

Many music podcasts are available online for
downloading; if one wanted to find, for instance, a hip
hop mix podcast, there are a few sites available to help.
The first possibility would be to go directly to a site
which creates one and subscribe to it using a podcast
client which automatically checks the feed for new
episodes and downloads them for the user. If, however,
one did not know of any hip hop mix podcast sites, or
simply wanted to find new podcast sites, the best
possibility would be to check a podcast directory, a list
of podcasts that can be browsed.

Hip hop mix podcasts could easily be found at one of
these podcast directories. A podcast directory stores
lists of podcasts which have been submitted to the site,
and categorizes them by genre, type of podcast, region,
and other meta data. To find a hip hop mix podcast,
visiting a podcast directory and checking under music
podcasts, and then under hip hop music would find
many podcasts which play that type of music.

The hip hop mix podcast could then be subscribed to by
inputting the feed address listed into one of the many
podcast clients. The music will come in episodes, the
name for each downloadable portion of a podcast. Some
of these podcasts may feature independent artists,
musicians trying to break into the music industry who
have chosen podcasting as a way of sharing their music
and gaining a following. Others may be remixes of
popular songs that have been changed in some way to
give a different feel to the music. Often, the artists may
already be established, though, and they still see

For anyone who wants to begin creating a podcast,
podcast hosting is the most important part. Before
anyone can begin distributing a podcast, they need a
place to store the files and keep the feed file that will
tell their subscribers about the new episodes available.
The first thing required is a domain name where the site
will be located. Many domain registrars are available
who will help one register a domain name for a small
fee. Once the domain is registered, hosting is required,
and again there are many different companies willing to
do the hosting for a small fee. One of those is
bluehost.com, but many others are available. When
looking for a host, the most important thing is to make
sure that a lot bandwidth and storage space is available
and cheap. Since podcasting deals with large media
files, a lot of disk space will be taken up storing the
files and bandwidth will be eaten quickly when they are
downloaded by the subscribers.

After podcast hosting has been acquired, it needs to be
used and the site needs to be set up. The DNS addresses
of the site need to be set to the addresses that the host
provides you so that the servers that underlie the
internet will know where your site is. DNS addresses
can be set by going to the domain registrar that was
used to acquire the domain and inputting the addresses
provided by the host. After that is done, it will take a
few days before the master list the domain registar
updates will be shared throughout the internet and all

Podcasting is easy to get involved in for anyone who
wants to create a podcast. The first thing necessary is
access to a web server. The user needs to be able to
upload files to the server itself, so podcasting can't be
done from a simple blogging or journal site. It's
probably best to register a domain and find a host for
the site. Once the site has been set up and the user has
access to the host server, a small program called
dircaster.php should be customized for your site, and
can be used to automatically generate the RSS feed that
the subscribers will download. The mp3 files should be
uploaded to the proper directory after all the
information about the file has been attached. After they
are in the directory, the address of dircaster.php, as long
as it is in the same directory as the mp3 files, will

A podcast is an easy way of distributing media files
over the internet, and this article will tell how to make a
podcast. The first thing necessary is a domain, and a
host on which to store the media files for the podcast.
Getting a domain is simple and easy, there are many
domain registrars that can register a domain for
someone for a small fee. Some of these domain
registrars are GoDaddy.com, Dotster, or Network
Solutions are some that provide domains. The domain
registrar will, for a small fee, enter the chosen domain,
provided it is not being used, into the computers that
form the backbone of the internet. These computers will
be told where the domain is located on the internet;
what host it is that holds the domain's information. In
order to give them that information, the name servers
that are held by the host need to be associated with the
domain. Once the domain is in place, a good host
should be found. The host that is chosen should offer a
large amount of both disk space and a much larger
amount bandwidth. Disk space is neccessary because
the site which holds the podcast will be storing large
media files; audio or video files that take up a lot of
space and are difficult to compress. The large
bandwidth is necessary because transferring these large
files many times to many different people will use up
the quota quickly. A good amount of diskspace would
be several GigaBytes, bandwidth should be in the tens
or hundreds of Gigabytes. Once the host is set up, it
should offer you a couple of addresses called

There are many online music podcast rss feeds to
choose from online. For many of the feed producers, a
podcast feed is a way to distribute non mainstream
music that otherwise would not be able to reach an
audience. These musicians are able to build a following
and share their work from outside of a music culture
that tends to keep out more niche groups. Because the
music industry is oriented towards mass distribution
and marketing, musicians and groups that aren't
believed to command such widespread fandom are kept
out of the market.

Distributing some of their music by podcast rss feeds,
however, lets them grow a small fanbase and attract
listeners who enjoy their work. These musicians may
support themselves by also selling portions of their
work, or may decide to provide all of their work for

is a site that catalogs podcast feeds and
provides links to them. Thousands of feeds are
available, from comedy shows to weekly suspense
stories. There is even a podcast featuring a couple that
talks about different wines every episode. Podcast Alley
features the best podcasts on the front page regularly,
along with a short article about the authors and their
work and an interview with the creators.. In addition,
the site keeps a list of the most popular feeds in a
sideline, allowing visitors to quickly see what the
community appreciates.

A visitor to can search by genre, learn
how to make their own podcast, discuss things with the
community in the forum, and find software related to

Podcast downloads are a wonderful new online way to
share files. A podcast is a way to send files from a
distributor's online site directly to the subscribers
computer, where they can view them whenever they
wish. A podcast works by having a small file called an
RSS file placed somewhere on the podcaster's web
page. This RSS file is updated regularily, usually
automatically with text and links to new media files
available for downloading. The RSS file is then
accessed by the podcast client of the subscriber's
computer. A podcast client is a small program that goes
online to look for the RSS files that the feed subscribers
wish to view. There are many podcast clients available
for every conceivable need, and most are free to
download and use.

The podcast download will be done when the podcast
client downloads and views the file from the feed's
website. After finding the links to the media files
embedded in the RSS file, it will download those files
and store them on the computer, allowing the user to
view them whenever and as many times as they wish.
The podcast files may be of many things. There are
comedy shows done by people who enjoy creating and
writing a regular show, but aren't able to do it as a
business. Some podcasts are music mixes, an mp3 file
that subscribers can play. Even some radio shows are
getting into podcasting, allowing subscribers to
download portions of their shows from the internet in
podcast form and play them on their home computer.

A Podcast RSS feed is what allows the entire system to
function. To begin at the beginning, a podcast is a
regular distribution of audio or visual files, called
episodes, to a users podcast client. The people who use
a podcast are called subscribers, and the podcast client
is what allows them to subscribe to a feed. The podcast
client is a program that connects to the internet, looking
for a specific file the user has subscribed to, or told it to
look for. That file is an RSS feed, a machine readable
piece of coding that sends information back to the
podcast client. RSS feeds can be used to distribute
many kinds of information, and were originally used for
blogging and distributing blog posts to subscribers. As
time went on, however, a few people had the idea of
enclosing information about media files within the RSS
feed so that software could be written to find that
information and download the files described.

The Podcast RSS feeds became a hit, and podcast
clients were quickly written to allow people to use the
new encoding. Podcasting became a means of quickly
and cheaply sharing episodes with subscribers. Rather
than requiring subscribers to visit the site that hosted
the files everytime they wanted to know if a new
episode was released, users could rely on the podcast
client to do the work for them, keeping track of
numerous podcast rss feeds that interested them and
downloading the files to be viewed when they wished.

There are many podcast software programs available to
use. Many of them are even free. Because of the
decentralized, geek adopted nature of podcasting, a
wide variety of programs are available, from large
programs with a big footprint that do many different
jobs to tiny little software packages that do the bare
minimum. A package is available for podcast
subscribers of almost any type, and more are being
created everyday.

While some podcast software is designed for home user
computers, much of it is designed to be used online.
There are many packages created so that feed
subscribers can view the podcasts they enjoy from
within a web browser. These software packages contain
both the feed reader like the home user software does,
but usually also incorporate a way to view or listen to
the podcasts online from inside the browser. Much of

Podcast Yahoo, is an example of a very full featured
podcast directory. Yahoo's beta offering presents
podcasts from many professional organizations
including NPR, Slate Magazine, and others. They also
organize their listing by categories, offer a list of the
most popular series and episodes currently available,
and let users search through the entire database.
Yahoo's site is professionally done, and likely has
people permanently assigned to work on it, and so it
differs from many of the other podcasting directories
available. Many directories are little more than listings
of amateur podcasters, but Yahoo's site brings out a
number of feeds done by mainstream organization,
raising the level of quality available.

For anyone who wants to find a podcast, Yahoo is
certainly a good choice. They have a slick, well done

What is now called a podcast traces its orgins to the
first ipod podcasts, the creation of distributed mp3 files
that could be downloaded and played on Apple's music
player, the iPod. When the iPod came out, and users
discovered what a wonderful thing it was for holding
music, some people had the idea of loading things that
weren't necessarily songs. Some of the people that got
their hands on the iPod took the route of reverse
engineering the iPod and loading on different firmware,
or operating system, but others had the idea of sharing
small sound files that could be played on the iPod. The
technology for distributing the files already existed,
with RSS feeds. RSS feeds were a means of generating
machine readable files that could share information
between a server and a user. Many blogs already used
them to keep readers up to date with the latest posts, but
some hopeful podcasters had the idea of enclosing links
to sound files within the RSS feed and downloading the
file to the computer.

With the change in RSS feeds, ipod podcast took off,
and podcasting became a popular way to share files.
Users saw podcasting as a way to become radio hosts,
or dj's, and a variety of podcasts began popping up.
Software was written to automatically check the RSS
feeds, extract the links to the podcast episodes, and
download the files. These programs became known as
podcast clients.

Because podcasting is such a new, exciting, cutting
edge phenomena, many people are eager to get
connected, and hence the Howard Stern podcast.
Everyone wants to be part of the next big thing, but not
everyone is suited or ready to do so. The Howard Stern
Podcast was created and shown on iTunes, the Apple
company's music store. However, the podcast was never
updated, and the only clip ever provided didn't even
include Howard Stern. This has brought a lot of flack
down on Howard Stern, as well as Sirius Radio, which
broadcasts Stern. Many of these people would have
preferred to hear Stern when they wanted to, as a
podcast, and were disappointed that the feed was not
being used.

The Howard Stern podcast is probably an example of

The podcast client thus allows the user to view
information on a wide range of topics from their
computer, without even using a web browser. Just like
blogs let people find writers they enjoyed for any niche
topic they were interested in, podcasts let people do
them same for audio and video. Its as if a thousands of
radio and television channels were created to serve
every possible interest, and more were made every day.
Using the podcast client to access and download the
files makes it as easy to keep up with the sites one likes
as it is to publish the feed.

be more open with the audience, engaging in a sort of
dialogue with them. The comedian broadcasts the files,
which enter the computer of the user, already a more
personal level than simply hearing the jokester on the
radio or on television. Compedy podcast subscribers
will often then write back to the podcaster, or leave
comments on the blog which often accompanies a
podcast site. This can give them a degree of input and
connection with the writers of the comedy podcast that
is far removed from other styles of comedy distribution.

The writers and producers of a comedy podcast thus
benefit from several advantages of the podcast form. It
is cheap and easy to set up, and uses a distribution
mechanism that is also easy to use. The way the podcast
form is designed, as well, creates greater connection
between the producer and the subscribers. The comedy
writer has a greater ability to interact with the
subscribers and to find out what they appreciate or do
not. Because podcasting is so simple to get involved in,
requiring only a small investment to get started, many
amateur comedy writers have begun starting their own
shows and distributing the feed. It is likely, because of
the unique connection podcasting offers between writer
and listener, that we will see at least some of these
amateur comedians make the leap to the professional
stage.

file called an RSS file. This file will contain
information about the podcasts, perhaps some text
about the individual episodes, as well as the location of
the episode file. Once the podcast client has been
located the file referred to in the RSS feed, it will be
downloaded and stored on the users computer until the
want to view it.

Sometimes, of course, access to a personal computer is
not available, but it is still necessary to check a certain
podcast. Fortunately, many podcast directories offer
built in podcast readers in the site. Not only do they
often show each recent episode that is available, they
may also offer a way to view or listen to those podcast
episodes from within the site. By using the viewer
contained within the site, it is no longer necessary to
even download the podcast episodes. However, the
ability to move and share the episodes after
downloading is one of the wonderful things about
podcasting. The files can be placed on almost and
media player, ranging from iPods to the new Play
Station Portable. This flexibility is one of the reasons
podcasts have succeeded, despite other technologies
like streaming music and video. The desire of
consumers to have control over technology cannot be
over estimated.

podcasts differently from show to show. The NPR show
"This American Life" distributes a podcast of the show
through a site called audible.com, which allows feed
listeners to subscribe to the feed for a small fee and
download the show . The NPR Hourly News show, on
the other hand, shares a short 5 minute broadcast that
summarizes the news for free. Since the NPR is taking a
radio show and converting it into a file that is
downloadable by the user, little is lost in the translation.
The sound is designed to convey the entire story, and so
podcast subscribers are able to treate the podcast as
nothing more than TIVO for the radio. ABC's podcast
of the news show Nightline, on the other hand, is
simply the sound track from the television show. This
has been one of the criticisms of the Nightline podcast,
because by merely stripping the sound from what is
designed as a television show, much information is not
given to the users. Listeners have problems telling who
is who because they miss the visual cues that were
supposed to be there, and there is no truly easy way to
convert the shows. For this reason, some news shows
have been moving from audio podcasts to video ones.
They can take the video information directly from the
show that is broadcast, lower the visual resolution to
shrink the file, and distribute it online as a podcast.

files, changing them to a format readable by the
PlayStation Portable, and distributing them by podast
feed. These podcast feeds are subscribed to by people
interested in the feed, who download the episodes as
they come out. After the video files are transfered to the
PlayStation Portable, they can be viewed whenever the
end user wishes, just like the other movies and
professionally done videos available for the PSP. The
PlayStation Portable has thus been changed from simply
being a portable gaming platform to a piece of full
featured media hardware capable of playing games,
storing information, and playing videos and movies,
moving toward a more complex future.

Soon you'll be on your way to downloading some of the
free podcast videos available online. Feeds are available
that publish on almost every topic, from independent
news shows to experimental videos, to scientific
information. Some colleges and universities even
podcast their most popular lectures so that students will
have a chance to watch and review from the comfort of
their computer chair.

The best part is that these free podcast videos, are of
course, free. All of these feeds are easy to find, and the
publishers, for the most part, do it simply because they
enjoy it, and are glad to give it away.

podcasting as a way to introduce themselves to a larger
audience. They may grant rights to pay certain hip hip
songs to a podcaster, letting them play the music as part
of their mix distribution while requesting a link to a site
where more information can be learned about the artists
and music can be purchased. Artists that have done this
include alias, edan, outerspace, RA the rugged man,
roots manuva, and outer space.

A large number of podcasts featuring hip hop mix
podcasts are actually radio stations, however. These
broadcasters have found that podcasting their shows
and selections is an easy way to reach more listeners
and gain a greater audience. These podcasters can reach
more people easier and cheaper than they can by
playing hip hop mix music over the airwaves in their
local areas. Playing hip hop music over the internet is
probably the way many future artists will do their work,
and there are many ways available even now that they
can do so and make a profit. For instance, some
podcasts are designed to work on a payment basis. A
hip hop artist who wished to share his music could
charge for addition to the feed list, then issue a unique
feed address to the user, allowing them to hear new
pieces of hip hop music released. The hip hop music
file could even be designed so it could not be copied
and used by another user at a different computer, to
ensure that the artist could maintain control over his
work.

name servers know where to find your specific domain.
You can then go about setting up your own podcast.

Using the podcast hosting you now have, you will need
to look at the disk space allocated to the site using
something called and FTP browser. The host may
provide one as part of their hosting plan, but if not there
are many available free to choose from. Using the FTP
browser, log on to the host and upload a file called
dircaster.php after editing it to fit the specifics of the
site. Dircaster.php is an easy to find piece of coding that
generates a feed file by looking at the contents of its
directory or folder. The individual episodes to be
podcasted can then be uploaded to the same folder as
dircaster.php for cataloging. Make sure that all the meta
data, or information about the mp3 file is correct before
doing so.

The podcast hosting you now have will allow you to
distribute a podcast. It would be best to upload more to
the site, such as an index page that tells visitors about
the podcast and provides the address of the file
dircaster.php on your site. When they subscribe to that
file, the podcast client thy use will access it and recieve
information about the latest podcasts available.

generate an RSS file that will tell your subscribers
where to download the latest podcasts from. To update
and and a new episode, create and upload the new mp3
file to the same directory. When dircaster.php is
accessed, it will recognize the new file and relay the
information on to your visitors.

With these steps, it is easy for anyone to create a
podcast with a small expenditure of time and effort. The
site is easy to set up; domains and hosting are now
cheap enough almost anyone to have a small site, and
the programs necessary are all easy to find and use.

nameservers. Inputting these server addresses into the
site where the domain was registered will complete the
domain setup and allow the site to be found on the
internet.

The next step for people who want to know how to
make a podcast is installing the software necessary to
maintain the podcast. A small piece of coding called
dircaster.php can be used to set up a basic level of
podcast. Dircaster.php can be found easily by searching
for it in any search engine. Once it is located, it should
be edited to reflect the particulars of the domain and
uploaded to the site. Dircaster.php will generate an RSS
file, or feed, that tells the subscriber about the new files
available for downloading. To begin podcasting, create
the audio files that should be podcast, fill in the
information about the file such as date, author, etc, and
upload them to the same directory that contains
dircaster.php. You now have a podcast, and all that is
needed is to publicise the address of the file
dircaster.php. To update the podcast with new
information, just upload the new files. Other things to
make the podcast better might be a site that contains
information about the podcast, but it isn't necessary.

free, as some do.

These musicians may, after growing a fanbase who
enjoys their music podcast rss feed, parlay that
popularity into music contracts within the industry. By
proving that they can support a passionate audience
even with their own meager efforts, a company can
sometimes be convinced of the music's viability on a
larger stage. By proving that the musicians can support
a dedicated audience and can keep producing quality
work, the group or individual has a better chance of
successfully getting a contract while maintaining their
independent style.

podcasting. The sire provides a wide range of resources,
as well as a large quantity (many thousands) of podcasts
that listeners can browse and subscribe to.

is an example of a podcast directory that
is well run and offers a large selection. The site also has
a strong community that can help visitors find podcasts
on topics that interest them or give them the
information they need to set up their own podcast, and
of course, add it to the directory. Anyone that is
interested in finding great podcasts should take a look at
and the selction they have.

Podcast downloads could conceiveably be applied to
any type of file. The RSS files that allow the mainly
audio and video files now used in podcasting to be
downloaded can be customized to enclose almost any
type of file. This has led some analysts to believe that
podcasting could eventually be used to distribute
software updates, demonstration programs, and many
other types of files, moving beyond the simple use of
podcasting to share media files. All that would be
neccessary would be for the users to subscribe to the
feed with their podcast client. They could then stay
regularily updated for nearly anything.

Podcast downloads offer many different possibilities for
distribution of files across the internet. Because it is a
different mode of using the internet, allowing the data
to come to the user rather than the user having to visit
each site they enjoy, podcasting has the possibility of
changing the way the internet works. Content can be
given directly to the individual, easily and ever more
quickly as broadband use spreads. This means that what
the internet is will change drastically. The web changes
from something connected to in order to be used to
something that is integrated and connected with our
personal life.

Podcast RSS feeds are now used to distribute a number
of different types of podcasts. Some producers use it as
way to share a comedy or news program that they
produce, others podcast in order to share music files
they create, and some podcast to share video files they
have created and to showcase their work. Podcasting
allows the producers to become radio or television stars
without the large investment in time and money that
wuld be required to do that. Because podcasting has
such a low entry cost, requiring little more than a server
and a domain to host the site and a way to record the
media, thousands of people who otherwise would not
have a chance to work in a media environment have a
chance to do so through their podcast rss feeds.

In this way, podcast RSS feeds allow media publishing
over the internet at a fraction of the cost of other forms
of media distribution, permitting people with much
smaller budgets to compete in some way. However,
podcast rss feeds are also attracting more established
companies and groups as well, bringing people from
NPR radio stations and news organizations like CNN
who use podcasting as yet another means to distribute
their product to end users.

this software is used at the podcast directories that
maintain listings of podcast feeds.

Another type of online podcast software is the category
of feed creators. PHP scripting is usually used to create
the RSS file that tells the feed readers where to
download the podcasts from. The scripting can either
create a hard copy of the RSS file and write it to the
server disk when the feed is updated, or it can make it
virtually. When the RSS file is generated virtually, it
doesn't actually exist on the host's server. Instead, the
address of the PHP script is distributed as the address of
the feed. When the script is accessed, it generates the
file by looking at the recent posts at the site and sends
the results to the feed subscriber.

site that is easy to use. Yahoo even includes software at
the site so that podcasts can be listened to from within
the web browser. After logging in, Yahoo allows users
to subscribe to feeds they enjoy, letting them be notified
when new episodes are available. Yahoo even has a
detailed walkthrough to help visitors create and begin
publishing their own podcast.

Podcast Yahoo clearly demonstrates the ability of a
corporate group to create a well made site. While it's
very unlikely that Yahoo or a company like it would
have been able to come up with podcasting, once they
know what to do, they can do it well.

By this time, podcasting had moved beyond the ipod,
and they were not simply making an ipod podcast
anymore. Some people had figured out how to use even
the PlayStation Portable gaming console as a podcast
player. It was more difficult that downloading podcasts
to the ipod, since the PSP used a different format for it's
files, but PSP podcasts began popping up. In addition,
podcasting made inroads to the wider audience of
people without iPods, who simply saw podcasting as an
extremely convenient way to receive news, music, and
entertainment over the internet.

Today, while the iPod podcast type still exists, fewer
people subscribe to podcasts as a way of gaining
portable media files they can listen to anywhere.
Although that is still an attractive part of podcasting, it
seems to be eclipsed by the ease with which podcasting
has become a content delivery system. Now, podcasting
has become tied up with the rising number of audio and
video blogs, where blogging is done not by post, but
through media files uploaded to the blog. These blogs,
and podcasting in general, take advantage of the
shrinking cost of broadband internet connections, and
the rising number of people with high speed access to
offer a picture of the internet rich with multimedia files.

some of the problems that can arise with podcasting. Its
new, and very hyped, so everyone wants to be a part of
it. However, the podcast is designed to be free. RSS
feeds are designed to easily distribute files, that can
then be redistributed and shared by the users who
download them. It would be close to impossible for a
podcaster to charge for their content. Either the
podcaster would have a small circle of people who
enjoy the feed, and very few who would want to pay for
it, or be very popular, as Stern is, and have the problem
of paying customers possibly redistributing the content
so others won't need to pay.

The Howard Stern Podcast Problem

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