JULY 13-JULY 19,2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
21
TECHNOLOGY
Invasion of the pod people
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BY JANE O'DWYER
THE DAILY YOMIURI
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TOKYO — Every morning, millions of commuters around the globe plug in MP3 players and head off to the office listening to their personal mix of music to ease the transition from home to work.
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MP3 players and their large-capacity cousins, hard disk drives, increasingly contain features that go beyond carrying music — photo and text storage, FM radio tuners and programmable recording.
Pretty cool, you might think. But if you don't live anywhere near your favorite radio station or can't stand the shock jocks and classic hits on commercial radio, then FM tuner or not, your MP3 player is little more than a portablejukebox for music you already own.
That is, until podcasting exploded out of the world of blogging in late 2004 and found its way over the last few months to an increasing number of major national and public broadcasters.
Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple Computer Inc., called podcasting "the hottest thing going in radio," when he announced on June 18 that his company would be adding podcasting to the next version of iTunes.
Based on technology called Real Simple Syndication (RSS), podcasting allows listeners to download radio shows and other content, including unofficial museum and art gallery guides, as MP3 files. Shows can be subscribed to and podcasting software set to automatically download updates onto MP3 players.
Jobs said there already were more than 8,000 podcasts available online, and the number was growing fast.
It is radio-to-go, anytime, from any place.
Podcasting developed as an audio offshoot of blogging with a very strong grassroots ethic. Amateur podcasters churn out an astounding range of programming for listeners to choose from.
It was the rapid growth of amateur podcasting that attracted the attention of
big-name broadcasters.
Former MTV VJ Adam Curry said in a interview broadcast on www.podcast411.com, "I think that established media have two choices really when something comes along that really shifts the business mold...They can either extend or defend."
Jake Shapiro, executive director of the Public Radio Exchange, said that podcasting offered broadcasters, especially public broadcasters, both a challenge and an opportunity.
"Certainly, it's potentially a very disruptive model, but something that radio stations have seen coming," Shapiro said. "They were already keeping an eye on satellite radio and on Internet radio and on the coming of digital radio."
Shapiro said it was remarkable how quickly podcasting had been adopted. Shapiro said its success came from public radio stations that were often under-resourced.
These stations don't necessarily consider themselves cutting edge in taking a risk or picking up a new technology overnight, Shapiro said, and that is why it has been rapidly embraced.
One public radio station that jumped on the technology early and has been happy with the outcome is WNYC public radio in New York.
The station has discovered a new international audience, and received positive feedback from listeners.
The station's director of interactive media said that its most popular show, "On The Media," had grown from 28,000 downloads in January to more than 120,000 so far this month.
There are two ways to access podcasts: go to your favorite radio station to check if it is podcasting. MP3 downloads will be available alongside listen-on-demand links.
Or download free podcast software at Web sites such as www.podcastingnews. com. Paste in the address of the shows you wish to subscribe to or choose from the lists provided.
You can choose to either download new episodes on demand or set the software to automatically download updates.
POPULAR PODCASTING SITES:
www.podcastdirectory.com
www.podcastingnews.com
www.podcast.net
www.podcastbunker.com
www.podcastcentral.com
www.podcastalley.com
www.ipodder.com
www.prx.or/podcast
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