by Shawn Thorpe

Created on: March 29, 2009

Do you have a desire to broadcast your thoughts to the world? If so, then podcasting could be for you. first, you'll need a basic understanding of just what a podcast is. The term podcast was coined in late 2004 for the process of distributing media files over the Internet using a subscription mechanism, most commonly an RSS 2.0 feed. Think of podcasting like a magazine subscription. Once you've subscribed to a podcast's RSS feed, new episodes of that podcast will be delivered to your media player automatically each time you update the subscription. Now that you've got an idea of just what a podcast is, here's some common misconceptions about the medium of podcasting:

1.) You don't need to own an iPod to create or consume podcasts. That's right, just because "pod" is at the heart of the word "podcast," Apple's iconic iPod media player isn't actually necessary. All you need in order to listen to/watch a podcast is a computer with an Internet connection. And while you will likely need more than just a computer to actually produce a podcast, you will not need an iPod.

2) Many popular media sharing sites like YouTube are not actually podcasting. Remember that true podcasts are available for download, and are easily moved onto portable media players. Many (but certainly not all) of the popular media sharing sites don't allow for their content to be downloaded, hence breaking one of the requirements of podcasting.

Now that you've got an understanding of what is and what isn't a podcast, the next step on your journey to becoming a podcast producer is to decide just what your podcast will be about. This is probably the most important part of the process. So take some time, and consider just what it is that you'd like to communicate. Do you have a specific topic of interest or expertise that you're passionate about? If so, then these are good places to start. Remember that there aren't any rules when it comes to the content of your podcast. Want to create a podcast about history, finance or books? Go ahead! Would you rather just share your day-to-day thoughts in the form of an audio/video journal? Go ahead! It's your podcast. You're in control. Just keep in mind that your content will be best when you care about it. So if you're not into politics or sports, then don't podcast about those things.

Once you've nailed down a solid subject for your podcast, it's time to consider just how it is that you'll create your show. The first thing to decide is what medium you'll use.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next Page >>