BBC Podcasts

www.bbc.co.uk/podcast

The Podcast is a relatively new media technology which is slowly growing in popularity due to its ease and instantivity, which attracts many people on-the-go. The technology behind podcasting became available in January 2001, and the word was coined in early 2004, and only a few websites used the format. The basic idea of a Podcast is to download segments of a radio or now a TV programme, and then either watch/listen to it at a later date on your PC, or upload it onto your MP3/MP4 player, hence the term 'pod' which comes from Apple's iPod.

Though podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital audio formats by its ability to be downloaded automatically, using software capable of reading feed formats such as RSS.

Podcasting's initial appeal was to allow individuals to distribute their own "radio shows,"

but the system is quickly becoming used in a wide variety of other ways, including distribution of school lessons, official and unofficial audio tours of museums, conference meeting alerts and updates, and by police departments to distribute public safety messages.

The BBC began a podcast trial in October 2004 with BBC Radio Five Live's Fighting Talk, extending it in January 2005 to BBC Radio 4's In Our Time and in April 2005 to several more programmes from 1Xtra, BBC World Service, BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal and BBC7. After BBC Radio 1 began podcasting highlights of the Chris Moyles show, US based Sirius Satellite Radio began rebroadcasting the station in North America.


The BBC podcasting website is a good example to show how quickly the podcast has moved on since it was first developed. Instructions are clear and simple to learn how to use podcasts:

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You can choose from a list of genres of Podcasts, which will eventually take you directly to the download you are looking for.


There is also an option of feedback, which will presumably benefit both the producers and the consumers, as the BBC will be able to find out the current problems and the public will be able to express them:


It is clear how significant in the BBC the podcast has become since it is a main feature on the BBC homepage: