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Podcasting - a word still causing confusion

Posted: 30/03/06 By: Jemima Kiss
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At the MediaGuardian conference this week, Adam 'The Podfather' Curry confessed that the memorable, if nauseatingly fashionable, label of 'podcasting' has significantly contributed to the success of the medium.

Derived from a combination of iPod and broadcasting, the term still seems to be causing some confusion.

There is a key difference between podcasting and just downloading an audio file, and the difference is that podcasts are automatically 'sent' to users computers' through an RSS feed. That means the user receives the file as soon as it is published, rather than having to visit the site. It is broadcast, effectively.

Even Matt Wells, the Guardian's own media editor, seemed a little confused about that in the inaugural Media Talk podcast.

"Pedantically, this really isn't a podcast," he said.

"It might be a podcast if you're listening to it on an iPod, but you might be just listening to it on a computer."

The 'podcasting' is in the broadcasting of it, therefore it is a podcast before it has been listened to. But let's not be pedantic.

• Recently a senior radio executive told me that podcasting is just a fad that will not go anywhere. That person is longer working at that radio company; those two facts may or may not be connected.

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