Podcasting was developed in part thanks to Adam Curry's original iPodder[1] (http://www.ipodder.org/) script and the success it fostered since [2] (http://ipodder.org/history) August, 2004. Dave Winer had added an "enclosure" element to the RSS 2.0 specification, as he explained in 2001[3] (http://www.thetwowayweb.com/payloadsforrss). UserLand Software, Winer's company, added the enclosure feature to its blogging software and built-in aggregators.
Bloggers including Harold Gilchrist[4] (http://radio.weblogs.com/0100368/stories/2005/02/19/myContributionToAudiobloggingpodcasting.html) and Curry were early users of the feature. Winer, at Harvard in 2003-2004, helped former National Public Radio talk-show host Christopher Lydon [5] (http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/lydon/) attach audio files to his Harvard weblog. Lydon's full-length interviews, which focused on blogging and coverage of the 2003-2004 U.S. presidental campaigns, helped inspire Curry's iPodder script.
The term "podcasting" was used in a Guardian article "Audible revolution: Online radio is booming" [6] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1145689,00.html) on February 12, 2004, but without reference to the automatic-sync concept. Dannie J. Gregoire used the term on September 15, 2004 to directly describe the "automatic download and synchronization" idea that Adam Curry had developed. Gregoire had registered domain names associated with podcasting including podcasting.net (http://www.podcasting.net/). That usage was discovered and reported on by Dave Slusher of the Evil Genius Chronicles [7] (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ipodder-dev/message/41) and Adam Curry [8] (http://cloud2.urj.nl/gems/DSC-2004-09-21.mp3).
Adding to a number of ad-hoc techniques for automatically downloading audio files, podcasting proper became popular through association with blogs (in particular MP3 blogs), the XML-based file format called RSS (Really Simple Syndication), and the polling applications called feed readers or news readers that poll and download RSS files.
Blogs, often being self-published websites, provided a convenient means for individuals to self-publish audio files online. RSS already gave websites and blogs a means to summarize or list new content added to the site. Individuals already used RSS to poll websites for new content. Thus, the addition of audio file listings to RSS, and the addition of audio file downloading to RSS feed readers built upon the feed reader's existing methods for polling and downloading files, and upon the existing "reader driven" interaction with content publishers.
While bloggers had the RSS technology in place, radio stations had audio content, some already in streaming media digital formats. In late 2004 and early 2005, several non-commercial public radio stations in the United States and the United Kingdom found podcasting well-suited to their style of storytelling, interview, comment and discussion programs, as had the Voice of America program.
In Canada, CBC Radio One is experimenting with the format with at least one regular radio show, Quirks and Quarks.
In Australia, the ABC's Triple J Network is making a number of programs - including current affairs, science and live music - available for downloading on the Triple J podcasts page (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/podcast.htm).
In Spain, the private radio station Cadena Ser has also started to podcast most of its programs including a Spanish manual on its website (http://www.cadenaser.com/static/podcast/ayuda_podcast.html).
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