Podcasting has emerged as a result of Apple's
highly successful digital music player known as the
iPod. As of early 2007, Apple has sold over 100 million
iPods in the past five years or so. The iPod is not just
another device, but instead became another platform to
deliver digital media. Initially it was just music, but
it has grown to include video and now High definition
video that can be delivered to TVs via Apple's
AppleTV, an ipod like device that connects
your computer and TV wirelessly together to deliver
content. Like the iPod, AppleTV will most likely change
the digital media landscape again as it becomes a
platform to deliver media from both computers and the
web wirelessly to your TV.
What is liberating about iPods is that almost anyone can
create and deliver content that can be downloaded and used
on the diminutive, portable ipods. Simple in design, but
sophisticated in what it can do. The iPod epitomizes
Apple's strength in industrial design and ease of use along
with powerful technology.
The authoring and delivery of iPod content has come to be
called podcasting. Apple wisely has made the iPod and its
software, known as iTunes, cross platform compatible with both
Macs and PCs. The underlying media architecture is in
Apple's proprietary but widely supported
QuickTime, which should be installed on a
machine in order to view most content from an iPod.
Downloading the free iTunes will automatically install
QuickTime on Windows machine. Macs already come with
QuickTime installed.
Podcasts are delivered in a format known as mp3, mp4 or
m4a. Both are all flavors of mpeg compression. Mp3 is used
primarily for audio, while the other formats can
incorporate graphics and video.
To create a podcast, you need to prepare audio, video
and/or images in programs specific for such tasks. Go to
the Additional
Resources section to find links to programs for
editing video, audio and graphics.
Some authoring tools for creating podcasts are:
Podcast Maker - Full featured podcast authoring
tool. Commercial (Mac only)
Podcaster - Good authoring tool recently updated
to support Windows. (Mac and PC)
GarageBand - Apple's tool for audio editing and
recording. Has good features for easily creating a
podcast. Commerical. (Mac only)
Feed for All - Podcasting and RSS feed authoring
tool. Commercial. (Mac and PC)