What is a Podcast?

The first thing that probably needs to be emphasized is the fact that you do not need an IPOD to listen to a Podcast. Podcasts are really nothing more than MP3 audio files that are automatically delivered to any MP3 player through your computer via the Internet .The automatic delivery happens when you set up your computer and player to receive these files on a scheduled basis. There are various ways to make this work on your computer. We will cover some of those methods in detail later in this section.After the MP3 file is downloaded to your computer, that MP3 file is then automatically uploaded into your Ipod or MP3 player. When you star your day you grab your player freshly loaded with new programs and you can immediately start listening to your favorite shows while exercising, riding in the car etc.You don’t have to spend any time sitting at the computer adding the files to your player, they will be already there for you.That is the basic idea of Podcasts . A Podcast is often described as Tivo for radio or radio “On Demand”. Terms identified with the TV world that allow you to view your favorite shows when you can work them into your busy schedule. Why not be able to do the same for Radio/Audio shows? For a more detailed look at how Podcasting began click here.

At the most basic level the MP3 file that contains a news or entertainment program can be listened to on your computer just like you would listen to any other MP3 audio clip that is posted on a web page. If you do not own any type of portable MP3 device or you want to just sample some programs you can do that at any time by clicking on the web page audio link and letting your computer’s MP3 software (Musicmatch, Real Player, Windows Media Player etc,) play it for you directly.You can also download that MP3 file to your computer for listening at a later time. On Windows PC’s you can right click the link to the file.Select “Save Target As” and direct the download to a convenient location on your hard drive.