What is a podcast and how do I listen to one?

A podcast is a radio programme on the internet that can be downloaded onto your computer and listened to whenever you’d like to hear it. You can play it either on your computer or download it to your MP3 player or iPod (that’s where the name comes from but you don’t need an iPod to listen to one).  They are part of that whole thing referred to as ‘social media’ (or, if you’re really getting technical, Web 2.0). 

You can listen just by downloading or you can ‘subscribe’ which means that, using freely available software, the latest edition of the podcast is automatically downloaded to your computer. They are almost always free.

Why do people like listening to podcasts?

People like podcasts because they offer a huge variety of content they can’t get elsewhere. They can appeal to quite specific communities – like, say, knitting enthusiasts or experts on weather lore – and, with blogs alongside them, its possible for the community to talk to each other and swap knitting or weather stories.

They are also a very flexible format. Unlike radio programmes, people can listen to them when and where they want to, they can skip around within the podcast or stop and come back to it – exactly where they left off.

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Who is podcasting in South Africa?

In South Africa at the moment there are three main groups of people who are podcasting.

Independent enthusiasts. Just as blogs turned anyone who fancied it into a published writer or journalist, podcasts can transform you into a radio presenter with your very own show.  Last year The ZA Show won Best SA Podcast at the 2007 SA Blog Awards.

Media organisations
Radio
Most South African radio stations are podcasting because their content is already in the right format. Try
www.702.co.za
www.classicfm.co.za
www.5fm.co.za

Newspapers
They are also doing it. Podcart produces the Mail and Guardian’s weekly podcast ‘Between the Pages’ with Tony Lankester which is hosted on the M&G Online site – one of the top five sites in the country.
The Sunday Times and The Times are also doing a lot of pods.

Corporates. You will find both audio and video files embedded into quite a few corporate sites but there are very few (if any) regular podcasts. One of the most innovative examples of corporate podcasting is the Old Mutual ‘Success Stories’ series which was produced by Podcart and is soon to launch, becoming the first corporate podcast of its kind in the country.