| e rise of podcasting, many individuals and | | | | work is created by a variety of different groups, |
| organizations are finding that podcasting is a great | | | | treats podcasts differently from show to show. The |
| way to distribute information, from music and | | | | NPR show "This American Life" distributes a podcast |
| comedy shows to talk shows, even podcast news. | | | | of the show through a site called audible dot com, |
| CNET is one of the groups that is distributing a news | | | | which allows feed listeners to subscribe to the feed |
| podcast. CNET, being an online technology site, | | | | for a small fee and download the show . The NPR |
| naturally found a niche distributing a tech news | | | | Hourly News show, on the other hand, shares a short |
| related podcast. CNET's recent podcasts covered | | | | 5 minute broadcast that summarizes the news for |
| such topics as viruses that attack cell phones, | | | | free. Since the NPR is taking a radio show and |
| problems with Google's software, China's web | | | | converting it into a file that is downloadable by the |
| restrictions and the "Great Firewall of China", and the | | | | user, little is lost in the translation. The sound is |
| FTC's attack on spyware. These news items were | | | | designed to convey the entire story, and so podcast |
| distributed in a sound file called an mp3 file that is | | | | subscribers are able to treate the podcast as nothing |
| downloadable to a listener's computer for listening | | | | more than TIVO for the radio. ABC's podcast of the |
| whenever they wish. While these files were available | | | | news show Nightline, on the other hand, is simply the |
| straight from CNET's site, the majority of them are | | | | sound track from the television show. This has been |
| shared through the use of an RSS file. An RSS file is | | | | one of the criticisms of the Nightline podcast, |
| a small piece of XML coding that is downloadable by | | | | because by merely stripping the sound from what is |
| programs designed to read it. These programs are | | | | designed as a television show, much information is |
| called podcast clients, and the user can input the | | | | not given to the users. Listeners have problems telling |
| address of the RSS files that hold the information on | | | | who is who because they miss the visual cues that |
| the feed. The feed will contain links to the media files | | | | were supposed to be there, and there is no truly |
| of the podcast, and will download the new updates | | | | easy way to convert the shows. For this reason, |
| automatically. | | | | some news shows have been moving from audio |
| More sites than CNET are finding that podcast news | | | | podcasts to video ones. They can take the video |
| is an expoitable technology. The British Broadcasting | | | | information directly from the show that is broadcast, |
| Corporation podcasts some of it's programs, as well | | | | lower the visual resolution to shrink the file, and |
| as the US radio network NPR. The NPR, because its | | | | distribute it online as a podcast. |