With the change in RSS feeds, ipod podcast took off, and podcasting became a popular way to share files. Users saw podcasting as a way to become radio hosts, or dj’s, and a variety of podcasts began popping up. Software was written to automatically check the RSS feeds, extract the links to the podcast episodes, and download the files. These programs became known as podcast clients.

By this time, podcasting had moved beyond the ipod, and they were not simply making an ipod podcast anymore. Some people had figured out how to use even the PlayStation Portable gaming console as a podcast player. It was more difficult that downloading podcasts to the ipod, since the PSP used a different format for it’s files, but PSP podcasts began popping up. In addition, podcasting made inroads to the wider audience of people without iPods, who simply saw podcasting as an extremely convenient way to receive news, music, and entertainment over the internet.

Today, while the iPod podcast type still exists, fewer people subscribe to podcasts as a way of gaining portable media files they can listen to anywhere. Although that is still an attractive part of podcasting, it seems to be eclipsed by the ease with which podcasting has become a content delivery system. Now, podcasting has become tied up with the rising number of audio and video blogs, where blogging is done not by post, but through media files uploaded to the blog. These blogs,
and podcasting in general, take advantage of the shrinking cost of broadband internet connections, and the rising number of people with high speed access to offer a picture of the internet rich with multimedia files.

Unlike most search engines, though, a podcast directory rarely searches out and finds content on its own, automatically. All the feeds are either contributed by users who want people to find their podcast, or added by the staff. Nearly anyone can set up a podcast, but gaining visitors can be difficult, and so podcasters can submit their feeds to the directory to gain readers.

Since its so easy to make a podcast, a podcast directory often uses ways to separate the very good feeds from the ones people do not enjoy as much. A directory may have a ranking system, feature certain special feeds on the front page, or even allow visitors to comment with their thoughts on a feed.

Visitors to a podcast directory can thus add their own podcasts, search for feeds on topics or regions that interest them, and even comment on those they like or dislike.

The podcast download will be done when the podcast client downloads and views the file from the feed’s website. After finding the links to the media files embedded in the RSS file, it will download those files and store them on the computer, allowing the user to view them whenever and as many times as they wish. The podcast files may be of many things. There are comedy shows done by people who enjoy creating and writing a regular show, but aren’t able to do it as a business. Some podcasts are music mixes, an mp3 file that subscribers can play. Even some radio shows are getting into podcasting, allowing subscribers to download portions of their shows from the internet in podcast form and play them on their home computer.

Podcast downloads could conceiveably be applied to any type of file. The RSS files that allow the mainly audio and video files now used in podcasting to be downloaded can be customized to enclose almost any type of file. This has led some analysts to believe that podcasting could eventually be used to distribute software updates, demonstration programs, and many other types of files, moving beyond the simple use of podcasting to share media files. All that would be neccessary would be for the users to subscribe to the feed with their podcast client. They could then stay regularily updated for nearly anything.

Podcast downloads offer many different possibilities for distribution of files across the internet. Because it is a different mode of using the internet, allowing the data to come to the user rather than the user having to visit each site they enjoy, podcasting has the possibility of changing the way the internet works. Content can be given directly to the individual, easily and ever more quickly as broadband use spreads. This means that what the internet is will change drastically. The web changes
from something connected to in order to be used to something that is integrated and connected with our personal life.

The Podcast RSS feeds became a hit, and podcast clients were quickly written to allow people to use the new encoding. Podcasting became a means of quickly and cheaply sharing episodes with subscribers. Rather than requiring subscribers to visit the site that hosted the files everytime they wanted to know if a new episode was released, users could rely on the podcast client to do the work for them, keeping track of numerous podcast rss feeds that interested them and downloading the files to be viewed when they wished.

Podcast RSS feeds are now used to distribute a number of different types of podcasts. Some producers use it as way to share a comedy or news program that they produce, others podcast in order to share music files they create, and some podcast to share video files they have created and to showcase their work. Podcasting allows the producers to become radio or television stars without the large investment in time and money that would be required to do that. Because podcasting has
such a low entry cost, requiring little more than a server and a domain to host the site and a way to record the media, thousands of people who otherwise would not have a chance to work in a media environment have a chance to do so through their podcast rss feeds.

In this way, podcast RSS feeds allow media publishing over the internet at a fraction of the cost of other forms of media distribution, permitting people with much smaller budgets to compete in some way. However, podcast rss feeds are also attracting more established companies and groups as well, bringing people from NPR radio stations and news organizations like CNN who use podcasting as yet another means to distribute their product to end users.

While some podcast software is designed for home user computers, much of it is designed to be used online. There are many packages created so that feed subscribers can view the podcasts they enjoy from within a web browser. These software packages contain both the feed reader like the home user software does, but usually also incorporate a way to view or listen to the podcasts online from inside the browser. Much of this software is used at the podcast directories that maintain listings of podcast feeds.

Another type of online podcast software is the category of feed creators. PHP scripting is usually used to create the RSS file that tells the feed readers where to download the podcasts from. The scripting can either create a hard copy of the RSS file and write it to the server disk when the feed is updated, or it can make it virtually. When the RSS file is generated virtually, it doesn’t actually exist on the host’s server. Instead, the address of the PHP script is distributed as the address of the feed. When the script is accessed, it generates the file by looking at the recent posts at the site and sends
the results to the feed subscriber.

Getting a domain is simple and easy, there are many domain registrars that can register a domain for
someone for a small fee. Some of these domain registrars are GoDaddy.com, Dotster, or Network
Solutions are some that provide domains. The domain registrar will, for a small fee, enter the chosen domain, provided it is not being used, into the computers that form the backbone of the internet. These computers will be told where the domain is located on the internet; what host it is that holds the domain’s information. In order to give them that information, the name servers that are held by the host need to be associated with the domain.

Once the domain is in place, a good host should be found. The host that is chosen should offer a large amount of both disk space and a much larger amount bandwidth. Disk space is neccessary because the site which holds the podcast will be storing large media files; audio or video files that take up a lot of space and are difficult to compress. The large bandwidth is necessary because transferring these large files many times to many different people will use up the quota quickly. A good amount of diskspace would be several GigaBytes, bandwidth should be in the tens or hundreds of Gigabytes.

Once the host is set up, it should offer you a couple of addresses called nameservers. Inputting these server addresses into the site where the domain was registered will complete the domain setup and allow the site to be found on the internet.

The next step for people who want to know how to make a podcast is installing the software necessary to maintain the podcast. A small piece of coding called dircaster.php can be used to set up a basic level of podcast. Dircaster.php can be found easily by searching for it in any search engine. Once it is located, it should be edited to reflect the particulars of the domain and uploaded to the site. Dircaster.php will generate an RSS file, or feed, that tells the subscriber about the new files
available for downloading.

To begin podcasting, create the audio files that should be podcast, fill in the information about the file such as date, author, etc, and upload them to the same directory that contains dircaster.php. You now have a podcast, and all that is needed is to publicise the address of the file dircaster.php. To update the podcast with new information, just upload the new files. Other things to make the podcast better might be a site that contains information about the podcast, but it isn’t necessary.

Podcast video, and other types of podcasting are thus part of the blogging revolution. Individuals and groups around the world, with a small investment in equipment and time, can become content producers. Because it is so simple to use and cheap to set up, many people are getting involved. They can podcast video around the world, becoming producers and directors for any small niche they want to exploit.

Many of these podcasters have small audiences that download their podcast video, but larger groups are getting involved. News organizations and websites that serve massive audiences are discovering that podcasting and podcast video can distribute their content to millions of people easily. These groups have found that podcasting video is yet another way to distribute their news and information. Since podcasting is so easy to use, it’s likely that even more people will start using podcast video.