podcast

A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (mainly audio) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. The word replaced webcast in common use with the success of the iPod and its role in the rising popularity and innovation of web feeds. The mode of delivery differentiates podcasting from other means of accessing media files over the Internet, such as direct download, or streamed webcasting.

Commonly used audio file formats are Ogg Vorbis and MP3. In many respects, this is closer to traditional publishing models associated with books and magazines (as opposed to radio, which uses a live stream).

Academics at the Community, Journalism & Communication Research group at the University of Texas at Austin in the USA are proposing a four-part definition of a podcast: A podcast is a digital audio or video file that is episodic; downloadable; program-driven, mainly with a host and/or theme; and convenient, usually via an automated feed with computer software.

In the EDICC Project we subsume all kinds of online and downloadable audio-files under the term podcast. 

Services to create, save and share podcasts are:

• Voisse - allows you to upload and/or record audio-files and to share them online. A plus is the possibility to link these audio-files to pictures and presentations.
  (http://www.voisse.com/) 
• Vocaroo - is a very simple and free online tool to record from your computers microphone. After recording the website offers to share the file via Link, E-Mail or embedding it into a website and/or to download it.
  (http://vocaroo.com/)