A Brief History of Podcasting

Ever wonder about the development of the podcast? While podcasting is a comparatively young technology it still has a rather fascinating albeit short history. The background of the word, "podcast" is rather fascinating and is reflective of the vibrant nature of the Internet neighborhood.

Podcasting is a term that was only created in 2004, integrating 2 words: iPod and broadcasting. Paradoxically, this meaning is somewhat of a misnomer given that neither component is totally accurate. Neither podcasting nor listening to podcasts needs an iPod or other portable player. Podcasts can be listened to on any mp3 enabled gadget including a desktop computer. The name association came about merely since Apple Computer's iPod was the very popular portable digital audio gamer when podcasting began. Exactly what's more, no over-the-air broadcasting is required either.

Even the editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary jumped on the podcasting bandwagon by stating "podcasting" word of the year for 2005. The term was defined as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, provided on the Internet for downloading to an individual audio player." The word will be added to the online version of the dictionary during their next update.

The term, podcasting was coined by journalist, Ben Hammersley, then promoted by former MTV VJ and media entrepreneur, Adam Curry. Mr. Curry created an Applescript application that automated the procedure of downloading and syncing audio files to iPods.

Other names or alternative interpretations of the letters, "P-O-D" was proposed, the most popular which was "Personal On Demand". Innovation author, Doc Searls created this expression back in September, 2004. Terms such as "audio-blogging", audio publications" and "web-casting" have also been used to describe this special form of media circulation.

Other "pod"-obtained phrases consist of "podcasters" (those who develop podcasts) and "podcatchers"-- the unique RSS aggregators which periodically check for and download new content immediately. Podcatching software enables the user to copy podcasts to portable music & video gamers.

The appeal of podcasting is spreading out like wildfire because of the rapid adoption of MP3 gamers and the desire of customers to have fresh content. Podcasting has actually thrived due to the fact that it gives people more control over what they listen to, and the freedom to take their programs with them with them.

Not since blogging has a technology seemed so unexpected and been so rapidly and widely adopted as podcasting. Development in this nascent industry is expected to speed up rapidly due to the quick acceptance of the technology by the radio broadcast market in 2005 and Apple's iTunes circulation. The increasing appeal of podcasts is tough traditional radio's broadcasting design.

While iTunes is less than 2 years old, roughly 4.8 million individuals downloaded a podcast in 2005, as compared with just over 800,000 in 2004. And 11.4 million listeners are anticipated this year, according to research study from The Diffusion Group. Currently the Apple iTunes service uses 15,000 podcasts and listeners have signed up for more than 7 million memberships.

A study by Bridge Ratings in November 2005 with radio listeners in ten national markets revealed that roughly 20% of users who have actually ever downloaded and paid attention to a podcast do soon a weekly basis. This group downloads approximately 6 podcasts weekly and spends roughly 4 hours a month listening to the podcasts they download.

This research study projected even more significant development in the market in the future. According to Bridge Ratings, by 2010, podcast audience growth is anticipated to reach a conservative 45 million users who will have ever listened to a podcast. Aggressive price quotes put this number closer to 75 million by this date.

How does this impact you?

With podcast listening increasing tremendously, podcasts use you a really effective tool for promoting your service or products. The great aspect of podcasts is that they are relatively easy and affordable to develop. Podcasting can assist make sure a better relationship with your target market by providing them with engaging, informative and regular updates about the goings on in your industry. If you have a website then there's no reason you should not have a podcast available as it's easy to set up and can bring a substantial increase in traffic to your website. So in other words podcasting needs to be an important element of any internet marketing campaign.

If you're interested to learn more about history of radio and its impact on human lives and contribution towards to cultural improvement then you can check out RadioHistoryNews.us