I take a long walk most mornings along the beach. And while I'm walking I listen to podcasts and other audio content on my iPhone. I catch up on NPR programs like Fresh Air and more geeky stuff like This Week in Tech. The problem is that when I mention to someone later that I heard this or that on a podcast, I get a blank stare. Or worse, I get asked for an explanation. Many of my friends have never heard of podcasting, which I have to admit is an unfortunate name. Nothing to do with pods or ipods or anything at all pod-ish.
Podcasts are audio and/or video files that you can download from various places on the internet. A podcast is just a generic term for the files. They can be produced by almost anyone. Hell, I could make one myself and distribute it to my friends if I had anything to say.
However, most podcasts are produced by people who actually have something interesting to say. Most of them are episodic and let you subscribe to have them automatically downloaded to your computer when a new episode is available.
There are lots of different ways to download them. Some of them are available on their own websites and some of them are available through programs called "podcatchers." I use iTunes as my podcatcher because it's so easy and because I'm already using it to manage my iPhone.
If you're interested in seeing what kind of content is available, just open up iTunes and go to the iTunes store and click on the podcast link. There are podcasts for every taste and interest. News, science, music, astrology, foreign language study, arts and crafts, humor, sports.....you name it and somebody is producing a podcast about it.
[caption id="attachment_350" align="alignnone" width="444" caption="Screenshot from iTune podcast page"]
Download a few and check them out. My favorites are NPR's Fresh Air and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell me and Car Talk, and the TWIT Network's This Week in Tech, The Daily Giz Wiz, and MacBreak Weekly, all produced by Leo Laporte.
Leo is the king of podcasting, and I've been subscribing to his shows for years. My family teases me that I talk about him as if I actually know him. But in fact, many times when someone asks me where I heard something, I avoid the whole podcast explanation by just saying, "My friend Leo told me."