Podcasting comes up quite a lot in the world of blogging. Like many things web 2.0, it is something that is often misunderstood. For all of you out there who are wondering, "What the heck is a Podcast Anyway (and why do I care)?” we’re going to break it down!

My faithful friend, Wikipedia, defines Podcasting as such:

A podcast is a digital media file, or a related collection of such files, which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers.

Ok, not bad - but I’m still confused, let’s break this up into pieces and see where we get to.

First, when you hear the word podcast think audio and video. As the definition states - a digital media file meant for playback on portable media players (such as iPods, handheld PDAs, phones, MP3 players etc.) or personal computers. So we’re talking about MP3/audio files and video file formats. However it’s important to note that these alone do not a podcast make! In fact if you are offering direct downloads or streaming audio/video on your website - don’t be fooled, you are NOT podcasting.

The word itself originally comes from the combination of "iPod" and "broadcasting" - meaning somehow we push data for out for pull in and use on something like an iPod or a computer. Think about this briefly, if podcasting means I have to get my video or audio file to an iPod - how is that done? Herein lies the meat and potatoes of the real skinny on podcasting. Podcasting is simply the idea of delivering audio and video files to a third party player (again your computer or your portable player). If you have no delivery mechanism, you have no podcast. A true podcast must be available for regular subscription just like the content in a blog.

Confused? Don’t be. Think of podcasting as the super-highway that delivers your audio and video files (likened to cars in this case) to iPods, PDAs and computer desktops all over the world (your final destination).

So what allows those cars to drive on your super-highway? Something you may have heard of before: RSS (Really Simple Syndication). RSS is really just a fancy code packaging that allows data to move from the content creator to the end-user. Blog content also travels by RSS. If I have ten video files, I’m podcasting if I put them into some fancy RSS packaging and "push" or offer them out for subscription to anybody out there on the Internet. The person that subscribes to your podcast then gets a new video or audio file from you anytime you add one to your RSS feed. RSS is meant to be constantly changing and updated regularly with new content. You wouldn’t bother to begin a podcast if you knew you were only ever going to make one or two videos. You would do it if you were regularly creating new audio or video files.

So it stands to reason, the only difference between blogging and podcasting is that a blog sends words out via an RSS feed whereas a podcast sends audio/video files. Once an audio or video file is captured by your user at his or her destination, that user can then take those files and push them to things like their iPod or PDA. A podcast is unique in that it is usually specially packaged to be compatible with programs such as iTunes. Many folks with iPods use iTunes to organize their music and videos. If a podcast is packaged correctly, iTunes will immediately recognize audio/video formats and make them available for local playback on your customer’s computer or iPod.

Next up in the series: Podcasting vs. Video Blogging, Is Podcasting a business tool?, How do I Start Podcasting

- Stay Tuned!