This is by far the best podcasting tips I have found!

A Podcast RSS feed is what allows the entire system to function. To begin at the beginning, a podcast is a regular distribution of audio or visual files, called episodes, to a users podcast client. The people who use a podcast are called subscribers, and the podcast client is what allows them to subscribe to a feed. The podcast client is a program that connects to the internet, looking for a specific file the user has subscribed to, or told it to look for. That file is an RSS feed, a machine readable piece of coding that sends information back to the podcast client. RSS feeds can be used to distribute many kinds of information, and were originally used for blogging and distributing blog posts to subscribers. As time went on, however, a few people had the idea of enclosing information about media files within the RSS feed so that software could be written to find that information and download the files described.

The Podcast RSS feeds became a hit, and podcast clients were quickly written to allow people to use the new encoding. Podcasting became a means of quickly and cheaply sharing episodes with subscribers. Rather than requiring subscribers to visit the site that hosted the files everytime they wanted to know if a new episode was released, users could rely on the podcast client to do the work for them, keeping track of numerous podcast rss feeds that interested them and downloading the files to be viewed when they wished.

Podcast RSS feeds are now used to distribute a number of different types of podcasts. Some producers use it as way to share a comedy or news program that they produce, others podcast in order to share music files they create, and some podcast to share video files they have created and to showcase their work. Podcasting allows the producers to become radio or television stars without the large investment in time and money that would be required to do that. Because podcasting has such a low entry cost, requiring little more than a server and a domain to host the site and a way to record the media, thousands of people who otherwise would not have a chance to work in a media environment have a chance to do so through their podcast rss feeds.

In this way, podcast RSS feeds allow media publishing over the internet at a fraction of the cost of other forms of media distribution, permitting people with much smaller budgets to compete in some way. However, podcast rss feeds are also attracting more established companies and groups as well, bringing people from NPR radio stations and news organizations like CNN who use podcasting as yet another means to distribute their product to end users.

Podcast Alley is a site that catalogs podcast feeds and provides links to them. Thousands of feeds are available, from comedy shows to weekly suspense stories. There is even a podcast featuring a couple that talks about different wines every episode. Podcast Alley features the best podcasts on the front page regularly, along with a short article about the authors and their work and an interview with the creators.. In addition, the site keeps a list of the most popular feeds in a sideline, allowing visitors to quickly see what the community appreciates.

A visitor to Podcast Alley can search by genre, learn how to make their own podcast, discuss things with the community in the forum, and find software related to podcasting. The sire provides a wide range of resources, as well as a large quantity (many thousands) of podcasts that listeners can browse and subscribe to.

Podcast Alley is an example of a podcast directory that is well run and offers a large selection. The site also has a strong community that can help visitors find podcasts on topics that interest them or give them the information they need to set up their own podcast, and of course, add it to the directory. Anyone that is interested in finding great podcasts should take a look at Podcast Alley and the selection they have.

Podcast Yahoo, is an example of a very full featured podcast directory. Yahoo's beta offering presents podcasts from many professional organizations including NPR, Slate Magazine, and others. They also organize their listing by categories, offer a list of the most popular series and episodes currently available, and let users search through the entire database. Yahoo's site is professionally done, and likely has people permanently assigned to work on it, and so it differs from many of the other podcasting directories available. Many directories are little more than listings of amateur podcasters, but Yahoo's site brings out a number of feeds done by mainstream organization, raising the level of quality available.

For anyone who wants to find a podcast, Yahoo is certainly a good choice. They have a slick, well done site that is easy to use. Yahoo even includes software at the site so that podcasts can be listened to from within the web browser. After logging in, Yahoo allows users to subscribe to feeds they enjoy, letting them be notified when new episodes are available. Yahoo even has a detailed walkthrough to help visitors create and begin publishing their own podcast.

Podcast Alley is a site that catalogs podcast feeds and provides links to them. Thousands of feeds are available, from comedy shows to weekly suspense stories. There is even a podcast featuring a couple that talks about different wines every episode. Podcast Alley features the best podcasts on the front page regularly, along with a short article about the authors and their work and an interview with the creators.. In addition, the site keeps a list of the most popular feeds in a sideline, allowing visitors to quickly see what the community appreciates.

A visitor to Podcast Alley can search by genre, learn how to make their own podcast, discuss things with the community in the forum, and find software related to podcasting. The sire provides a wide range of resources, as well as a large quantity (many thousands) of podcasts that listeners can browse and subscribe to.

Podcast Alley is an example of a podcast directory that is well run and offers a large selection. The site also has a strong community that can help visitors find podcasts on topics that interest them or give them the information they need to set up their own podcast, and of course, add it to the directory. Anyone that is
interested in finding great podcasts should take a look at Podcast Alley and the selection they have.

A growing trend online is podcast video. While podcasting was originally only for audio files, more people are beginning to send video, especially with broadband connections more accessible. To podcast video, content distributors enclose it in a web syndication file that users can download and view when they want. Users subscribe to the different files, checking them for updates regularly, and download the new offers when they become available. Each file is often referred to as an episode, and may be part of a video blog, or vlog.

Podcast video, and other types of podcasting are thus part of the blogging revolution. Individuals and groups around the world, with a small investment in equipment and time, can become content producers. Because it is so simple to use and cheap to set up, many people are getting involved. They can podcast video around the world, becoming producers and directors for any small
niche they want to exploit.

Many of these podcasters have small audiences that download their podcast video, but larger groups are getting involved. News organizations and websites that serve massive audiences are discovering that podcasting and podcast video can distribute their content to millions of people easily. These groups have found that
podcasting video is yet another way to distribute their news and information. Since podcasting is so easy to use, it's likely that even more people will start using podcast video.

There are many podcast software programs available to use. Many of them are even free. Because of the decentralized, geek adopted nature of podcasting, a wide variety of programs are available, from large programs with a big footprint that do many different jobs to tiny little software packages that do the bare minimum. A package is available for podcast subscribers of almost any type, and more are being created everyday.

While some podcast software is designed for home user computers, much of it is designed to be used online. There are many packages created so that feed subscribers can view the podcasts they enjoy from within a web browser. These software packages contain both the feed reader like the home user software does, but usually also incorporate a way to view or listen to the podcasts online from inside the browser. Much of this software is used at the podcast directories that maintain listings of podcast feeds.

Another type of online podcast software is the category of feed creators. PHP scripting is usually used to create the RSS file that tells the feed readers where to download the podcasts from. The scripting can either create a hard copy of the RSS file and write it to the server disk when the feed is updated, or it can make it virtually. When the RSS file is generated virtually, it doesn't actually exist on the host's server. Instead, the address of the PHP script is distributed as the address of the feed. When the script is accessed, it generates the file by looking at the recent posts at the site and sends the results to the feed subscriber.