What are podcasts?

Podcasting is a method of publishing audio and video broadcasts online, designed to allow software to automatically detect and download new broadcasts over time, using RSS feeds  which contain a link to the multimedia files of the broadcast.

With podcasting, everyone can create self-published "radio shows" or "tv shows" and make them available to the audience via newsfeeds, which allows the public to listen to the shows whenever it's more comfortable for them, as opposed to when it's more comfortable for the producer.

The word "podcasting" is a combination of the words "iPod" and "broadcasting", and it was first coined by Ben Hammersley in the Guardian on February 2004, as a synonym for audioblogging.

But, it is very important to be noted that having an iPod is absolutely not neccessary to listen to or create a podcast. All you need is a computer with the proper software, and you are good to go.

For information about how to create a podcast with a Blog-City blog, check out our How To Create a Podcast page.