What is… A Podcast?

A podcast is an audio recording you can listen to on a portable MP3 player or iPod. It is usually in MP3 format and you can either listen to it online through your PC or download it onto your portable device and take it on the road with you.

It is relatively cheap and easy to create a podcast at home and many people are creating their own “radio” shows for podcasting over the internet. The major broadcast corporations such as the BBC and Radio Australia are also producing podcast versions of their usual broadcast programmes. (I will write about how to produce a podcast in a separate post)

I occasionally podcast interviews and discussions with a writing or cross-cultural theme on my blog, Fusion View. You can check them out by going to www.fusionview.co.uk and clicking on the category “Podcasts” in the sidebar. You can listen to them online via the embedded audio players on the relevant posts or you can download the audio file to listen to later.

A great way to explore podcasts is to download some podcast receiving software and then browse through their directories or search by keyword via their user panel. The software is free. The following are some providers:

To start you off, the following are some interesting podcasts:

All in the Mind, Radio National Australia - in depth discussions and interviews about psychology, mental health and consciousness
Documentary Archive, BBC World Service - a wide range of documentaries about issues around the world.
Flying Startups Podcast, from Steve Parks, author of How To Be an Entrepreneur - great tips for small businesses, whether you are just starting out or well on your way.
Coffee Break Spanish - a fun series teaching Spanish in bite-sized chunks.

You can also explore podcast directories like Jellycast, Britcaster and PodcastAlley.

Photo: thanks to hawaii on flickr.com