Since the late 20th
century, the internet has become wildly advanced. People
are now able to access large amounts of information. The
personal computer and the internet in almost every home
makes the everyday person able to produce podcasts which
are able to broadcasted throughout the world virtually
free of charge.
After the internet’s inception, weblogs began to arise
which more commonly are referred to as blogs. These have
become a popular method for people to share their ideas
and thoughts in a casual venue on the internet. The blog
is commonly considered to be the predecessor to
podcasts. Over the past several years, blogs have been
created on thousands of different topics from personal
journals to politics.
Blogs allow any person to
be a commentator and journalist. The ability to
communicate thoughts with the rest of the world has
never been easier with podcasting being a progression.
The reading of blogs became much easier with Dave
Winer’s creation of RSS feed which automatically
notifies readers or additional information when new
posts are made.
Podcasting history consisted next of audio blogging
which was made possible through quicker connection
speeds. Instead of writing out thoughts, they would
record themselves while they were speaking and would
then post the blog as an MP3. This made the blog more
personal and naturally led to podcasting.
The difficulty with the audio blog was that readers
would continually need to check for the new files by
visiting the site in order to download the files and
then sync the files to an MP3 player. This was not a
convenient way to obtain information.
A man named Adam Curry desired to simplify the audio
blog process. He is given the credit for the automation
of the delivery and the syncing of the content with
portable players. Along with Dave Winer, they added
“file enclosure” to the technology of the feed which
means that the feed would inform the computer as to
where to download an MP3 file.
The first of the podcatcher software was written by Adam
Curry which was used as a podcast collector. The
software was used to check for updates and read the
“file enclosure”. This enclosure will then disclose
where the file can be downloaded and then the file can
be obtained. The MP3 will then be transferred to the
iPod or MP3 device.
Podcasting could not have occurred without the spreading
of MP3 files and players. The MP3 permitted audio files
to be compressed within smaller files so that they could
be easily transferred via the internet and then stored
on a device. MP3 players were designed in order to allow
individuals to obtain music and carry it with them.
The term “podcast” was first used within an article of
the Guardian that was published on the 12th of February
in 2004. The word has been linked to Ben Hammersley who
was the author of the article and used the podcast as
another term for amateur internet radio or audioblogging.
A small collection of podcasters began to arise from the
community of bloggers. This practice grew in popularity
and eventually what was known as the “podcasting
revolution” began. Since then, thousands of individuals
have begun podcasting.
With the use of MP3 players increasing and the increased
storage on the devices, individuals are constantly
looking for more audio files to listen to while jogging
or on-the-go. Podcasting has increased the amount of
available information and creates audio files that are
free of standard radio corporation content.
In short, the above is a brief podcasting history. It
has fulfilled the need of individuals to share their
ideas and thoughts and feelings. Additionally, it has
made the listener able to obtain more audio content than
ever before.
The technological advances in software and the internet
are proven to only increase podcasting in the years to
come. New ideas and content are being generated daily,
proving beneficial to both recorders and listeners.
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