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Podcasting
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A podcast is like a radio program except people can download a podcast to a portable media player (such as an iPod or other mp3 player) and listen to it at their convenience. Podcasts can be created by anyone with the right equipment (computer, internet connection, and audio recorder) and uploaded to a server on the internet where they can be found and downloaded by podcatchers (programs that can identify a podcast.) The podcatcher reads an rss feed to identify the podcast and download it to a computer.
Podcasts can have only sound or sound and video.
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Encyclopedia
A podcast is like a radio program except people can download a podcast to a portable media player (such as an iPod or other mp3 player) and listen to it at their convenience. Podcasts can be created by anyone with the right equipment (computer, internet connection, and audio recorder) and uploaded to a server on the internet where they can be found and downloaded by podcatchers (programs that can identify a podcast.) The podcatcher reads an rss feed to identify the podcast and download it to a computer.
Podcasts can have only sound or sound and video. A video podcast is sometimes called a vidcast. A podcast with sound and pictures (but not moving) is called an enhanced podcast.
Like the term broadcast, podcast can refer either to the content itself or to the method by which the content is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting. A podcaster is the person who creates the content.
A podcast is a special type of rss feed. It is a series of visual or sound and visual data files which are distributed over the internet by syndicated download, through Web feeds, to portable media players and personal computers. Though the same content may also be made available by direct download or streaming, a podcast is distinguished from most other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added.
The term is a portmanteau of the words "iPod" and "broadcast", the Apple iPod being the brand of portable media player for which the first podcasting scripts were developed (see history of podcasting). Such scripts allow podcasts to be automatically transferred from a personal computer to a mobile device after they are downloaded.
As more devices other than iPods became able to synchronize with podcast feeds, a backronym developed where podcast stood for "Personal On Demand broadCAST." though such a definition would create a misnomer, because podcasts are not available "on demand"; they are subscribed to and usually received at set intervals. Such a definition would more accurately describe a direct download or streaming media.
History
Trademarks
On February 5, 2005, Shae Spencer Management LLC of Fairport, New York filed a trademark application to register PODCAST for an 'online prerecorded radio program over the internet'. On September 9, 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office rejected the application, citing Wikipedia's podcast entry as describing the history of the term.
As of September 20, 2005, known trademarks that attempted to capitalize on podcast include: Podcast Realty, GuidePod, PodGizmo, Pod-Casting, MyPod, Podvertiser, Podango, ePodcast, PodCabin, Podcaster, PodShop, PodKitchen, Podgram, GodPod and Podcast.
As of February 2007, there were 24 attempts to register trademarks containing the word "PODCAST" in United States, but only "PODCAST READY" from Podcast Ready, Inc. was approved.
On September 26, 2006, it was reported that Apple Computer started to crack down on businesses using the acronym 'POD,' in product and company names. Apple sent a cease-and-desist order that week to Podcast Ready, Inc., which markets an application known as 'myPodder'. Lawyers for Apple contended allegedly that the term "pod" has been used by the public to refer to Apple's music player so extensively that it falls under Apple's trademark cover. It was speculated that such activity was part of a bigger campaign for Apple to expand the scope of its existing iPod trademark, which included trademarking "IPODCAST," "IPOD," and "POD." On November 16, 2006, Apple Trademark Department returned a letter claiming Apple does not object to third party usage of "podcast" to refer to podcasting services and that Apple does not license the term(s).
See also
Syndication protocols
External links
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