Lecture
Podcasting (from iPod and broadcasting) is the process of creating and distributing audio or video files (podcasts) in the style of radio and television programmes over the Internet.
As a rule, podcasts have a specific subject matter and a regular publication schedule.
Podcasting is the process of creating and distributing audio or video material in podcast format. A podcast is an audio or video file that can be downloaded or streamed over the internet.
A podcast usually consists of a series of episodes that can be subscribed to and listened to or watched at a convenient time. Podcasts can be devoted to various topics — news, entertainment, education, science, culture, sport and much more. Podcasts are often created by people or groups who have particular expertise or interest in particular subjects.
Podcasting has become popular thanks to its flexibility and accessibility. People can subscribe to podcasts and listen to them on their smartphones, tablets or computers whenever it suits them. Podcasts are also often free for listeners, although some creators may offer paid subscriptions or sponsorships to fund their work.
Creating a podcast involves recording audio or video, editing, sound processing, preparing cover art and metadata, and publishing the material on a platform for podcast distribution. There are many platforms and applications that make it easier to create and distribute podcasts, such as Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and others.
Podcasting has become an important media format that allows people to express their ideas, share information and interact with an audience. It gives listeners and viewers the opportunity to choose content according to their interests and enjoy it at their own pace.
The emergence of podcasts was made possible by the spread of several technologies: RSS, the MP3 audio format and digital audio players. Podcasting was first used by Adam Curry, who wrote code in August 2004 for a program that automatically downloaded new audio files using RSS. The files could be played on a computer or transferred to a portable MP3 player.
The term was first used by British journalist Ben Hammersley on 12 February 2004 in an article titled “Audible Revolution” in the “Television Industry” section of The Guardian, where he noted:
Looking back, it all seems pretty obvious: cheap or even free audio production software, and weblogs — everything that a boom in amateur radio needs is now in place. But what to call it? Audioblogging? Podcasting? Guerrilla media?
— Audible revolution
A podcast refers either to a single audio file (usually in MP3, AAC, Ogg/Vorbis format (for audio); Flash Video and AVI (for video podcasts), or to a regularly updated series of such files published on a single Internet resource, with the option to subscribe.
A podcaster is a person who engages in podcasting on an amateur or professional basis.
A podcast terminal is a site that supports the hosting of media files and, to some extent, automates the posting of episodes and subscription to updates. It is a type of social media and is similar to video blogging and internet radio technology. In addition to audio and video recordings, it may contain a text transcript of the speech.
A podcast client (podcast manager) is a specialized application for listening to podcasts. The most popular applications worldwide are Apple Podcasts (the pre-installed podcast client on iOS, iPadOS and macOS), Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Castro and others. They provide the same basic functionality but may differ in interface and additional features.
Podcast managers allow you to subscribe to podcasts, receive notifications about new episodes, download episodes for offline listening, set up automatic episode downloads, and adjust podcast playback speed without distorting the speech. Podcast clients can also automatically cut out pauses in speech, skip intros and outros at the beginning and end of podcasts, sort episodes into lists, boost hosts' voices, and synchronize playback between devices.
Show notes and timecodes are text materials that can accompany podcast episodes. As a rule, show notes contain a brief description of the episode, a list of topics, contacts, and links. This information is read by podcast clients. Show notes may contain timecodes — correspondences between topics and the time they occur in the episode. Timecodes allow listeners to jump straight to the topic they need within the episode.
Chapters — metadata specified directly within the episode's mp3 file. If the podcast manager supports chapters, listeners can use them to move from one topic to another, flipping through them (like chapters in a book). Chapters can contain additional information — images, links and text.
The technological basis of podcasting is the RSS or Atom format with a specific enclosure element (“attachment”) describing the attached media object (an image, a video clip, an audio recording file, etc.).
The element has attributes:
The process of creating and publishing a podcast happens in several stages:
The actual prototype of podcasting in Russia turned out to be the samizdat media audio project “Illusion of Independent Radio”, published in Rostov-on-Don in the late 1980s (the first episode — 1989) by the editorial staff of the samizdat magazine “Ura Boom-Boom!”, led by Galina Pilipenko. Having no opportunity to produce their own program on state radio channels, the “samizdatchiks” recorded and released the radio program “Illusion of Independent Radio” by duplicating it on reel-to-reel tapes. The program was recorded and distributed among friends, as well as throughout Russia by subscription.
The initiative to open the first podcast portal and hosting service in Russia belongs to Vasily Strelnikov.
A major boost to the subsequent development of podcasts came from the podcasts of the publication Meduza, which helped popularize the audio show format in the Russian-language media space and gave rise to a large number of new audio shows.
In addition to “Meduza”, there are also other popular podcast providers (media outlets that produce several regular podcasts), such as Borodokast, Libo-Libo, Podkasterskaya, Zavtrakast, Blitz and Chips, Glagolev FM and others.
Most podcast clients use the Apple Podcasts catalog to compile charts and recommendations. That's why the most convenient way to find new podcasts on topics of interest is through the Apple Podcasts app (the “Browse” tab). There you'll find collections and features curated by Apple, as well as automatically generated top charts in their respective categories, such as Business, Education, Health, Technology, Science, Sports, News and others.
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