From blogs to music, podcasting brings Internet audio to mp3 players
By Adrian McCoy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05116/494215.stm
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
As if there weren't already thousands of ways to fill our limited
leisure time, here's a new one -- podcasting.
Unlike conventional AM and FM radio or even satellite radio, programs
are downloaded from the Internet into a portable mp3 player that
listeners can take wherever they want. It takes Internet broadcasting
off the computer desktop and onto a new level as entertainment on
demand.
What are they podcasting in cyberspace? People are programming their
own music programs, hosting their own talk shows, and creating audio
Web logs, or blogs. Many podcasts are devoted to different genres of
music and Internet/technology topics. Others are geared to specialized
interests like wine making and home brewing.
As with blogging, the quality of programming varies widely, with
personal rants and content that might appeal only to an audience of one
-- the podcaster who created it.
But some podcasts are finding an audience. Many Web sites are already
compiling top podcast lists. Among the most popular, according to the
site Podcasting News, are NASA's CurrentStories podcast, which explains
NASA research to the public; "The Seanachai," billed as a "weekly
program of off-center storytelling and cleverly disguised commentary";
comedy by Firesign Theater; a daily blog posted by podcast pioneer/DJ
Adam Curry; "The Vinyl Podcast," billed as "fair use of forgotten
music" and NPR's "On the Media."
For music fans, it's a way to hear new music or niche music not heard
over the airwaves. For musicians, it's a way to get exposure via sites
such as "The Roadhouse," "the finest blues you've never heard," and
"Coverville," an all-cover-songs format.
Even the popular talk radio finds a new home here. "Free Talk Live"
looks at current topics such as health care, gun control and news
stories. "Open podcast.org" takes the open mike approach, inviting
listeners to submit their own short commentaries for a kind of
unmoderated call-in talk show.
Some of the liberal talk network Air America's programming is available
this way, including "Morning Sedition," and the Al Franken and Randi
Rhodes daily talk shows.
Just as Web sites played a bigger role in the last presidential
campaign, podcasts are also being used by politicians as a new way to
get their ideas across to a larger audience. Former vice presidential
candidate John Edwards is using podcasts on his One America Committee
Web site (http://ga3.org/podcast/podcasting101.html). The Republican
Party's Web site (gop.com) offers podcasts of a series of Web
interviews with Republican leaders.
Locally, mayoral candidate Bill Peduto is using podcasting technology
as part of his campaign arsenal. The recent PUMP mayoral forum is
available online at Peduto's site (billpeduto.com). Peduto sees real
potential for communicating with voters this way. "You get to hear
directly from the candidates, in the candidate's voice, from a real
event. It provide far more information than anyone is going to read."
He also sees it as an ideal way to reach younger voters. "The target is
a younger audience and a more tech-oriented audience. To those folks,
podcasts are a daily occurrence. They're not watching the 6 o'clock
news to get information."
While Pittsburgh so often lags behind national trends, the presence of
many tech-savvy people here and an active blogging community is already
driving several local podcasts.
The EMayhem Radio Podcast (emayhem.libsyn.org) is a site that features
regular podcasts by a variety of local artists. Podcasts dating back to
the site's debut in October are archived there.
Dave Mansueto of EMayhem and a group of other local artists wanted to
create a resource that would give them exposure in an online venue.
EMayhem's podcasts are hosted through Liberated Syndication
(libsyn.com), a service that offers podcasters a way to get their shows
online.
On Emayhem, you'll find a radio drama called "The Stalls" and a talk
radio channel. Musician Dan Barone files audio dispatches from the
road. There's also link to the Peduto podcasts.
Mansueto's enthusiasm for podcasting and its potential is infectious.
"The potential is limitless," he says. "You can distribute anything.
Your audience is the entire global community. You make your own
programming, your own music, your own news. The only limitations are
storage space and bandwidth."
For the listener, it's equally liberating, he says. "It frees you from
your computer. You're not restrained to programming times."
Mike Woycheck of the Pittsburgh Webloggers site (pghbloggers.org)
launched the first installment of a podcast talk show this month.
Woycheck, an information technology professional from Ross, sees
podcasting as the next logical step for bloggers because it gives them
a way to create dialogue. "Blogging by nature is more often one-way
than it is two-way," he says.
The monthly talk show will be around 20 or 25 minutes long, in order to
keep the download file size smaller, and will features members of the
local blogging community talking about news of the day. Woycheck will
set up conference calls and tape the discussions, which will then be
available online for download.
Woycheck cites recent events such as the Terri Schiavo case and the
death of Pope John Paul II as examples of topics that generated a lot
of talk on the blogger sites. These ideas and opinions could be worth
hearing, he believes. "Some blogs are more interesting than others. But
there are many that are by good writers who have interesting views."
Woycheck also sees podcasting as a real sea change in media technology,
"You can really take this show with you. I guess it's the TiVo-ing of
society. Listen around your schedule and on your terms."
Mainstream radio is already taking notice of the new technology and its
potential to enhance traditional broadcasting and webcasting. Several
stations across the country are experimenting with podcast programming,
including WYNC in New York, WGBH in Boston and Canada's CBC Radio One.
For a music station to start podcasts means paying additional copyright
licensing fees -- which is the same reason that many commercial music
stations choose not to stream their signal online. Many music
podcasters skirt this issue by playing only material that isn't
protected by copyright rules, such as original music submitted by
musicians trying to get airplay, or music protected under a Creative
Commons license, which an alternative method of copyrighting material
and allows some free use of material.
Because of the copyright question, local public station management at
WDUQ-FM and WYEP-FM are following the growth of podcasting but haven't
committed to it.
As podcasts join mainstream broadcasting's competitors, including
satellite and Internet radio, it opens yet another chapter in
communications history.
Twentieth-century society was "built around TV and radio. This
technology is a natural evolution of Web and media technologies,"
EMayhem's Mansueto says. "It's about the democratization of media. The
playing field is evened. This is a complete paradigm shift."
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How to get podcasting files
Podcasting, a new Web-based broadcasting medium, gets its name from a
combination of iPod, Apple's popular portable mp3 player, and the term
broadcasting.
The process is similar to subscribing to an audio "magazine" and can be
compared to the way TiVo records TV broadcasts for later viewing.
Podcast programs can be stored and listened to on a computer or mp3
player or portable device whenever the listener wants.
There are two ways to get podcast files.
One is to download the mp3 file -- the same way one downloads a song or
music file, although typically podcast files are much larger.
The second, easier way is to use a program that enables the listener to
"subscribe" to podcasts, which are automatically updated, downloaded
and stored for later listening or for transfer into a portable player.
The programs needed to do this can be downloaded through various
podcasting Web sites.
-- Adrian McCoy
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Podcasting Web sites
Here are a few podcasting Web sites to get you started:
iPodder.org: Guide to more than 4,000 podcasts, plus helpful
information on how to tune them in (ipodder.org)
Podcasting News: News about the budding podcasting business, plus forum
and links to podcasts (podcastingnews.com)
Podcast.net -- The Podcast Directory: Guide to podcasts, classified by
subject, such as sports, arts and rants (podcast.net)
Podcast Alley: Portal to top podcasts, plus a user's forum
(podcastalley.com)
Podcast Bunker: A selection of top podcasts, along with 30-second
previews (podcastbunker.com)
DownloadRadio: Links to legal downloads of radio programs
(downloadradio.org)
The Freshest Podcasts in the Known Universe: Links to 100 podcasts
(audio.weblogs.com)
AllPodcasts.com: A search index for podcasts (allpodcasts.com)
Yahoo Podcasters Mailing List: Mailing list for podcasters and
listeners (groups.yahoo.com/
group/podcasters)
-- Adrian McCoy
(Adrian McCoy can be reached at [log in to unmask])
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