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A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. A podcast is a specific type of webcast which, like 'radio', can mean either the content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. The term "podcast" is a portmanteau of the name of Apple's portable music player, the iPod, and broadcast[1]; a "pod" refers to a container of some sort, and "cast" to the idea of broadcasting.
In other words, a podcast is a collection of files (usually audio and video) residing at a unique web feed address. People can "subscribe" to this feed by submitting the feed address to an aggregator (like iTunes - software that runs on the consumer's computer). When new "episodes" become available in the podcast they will be automatically downloaded to that users computer. Unlike radio or streaming content on the web, podcasts are not real-time. There is no live broadcast of content, the material is pre-recorded and users can check out the material at their leisure, offline.
Though podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically, using an aggregator or feed reader capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.
Certain podcasts, like those using technology developed by TalkShoe, can even be live and interactive. Dozens of podcast ethusiasts can be on at once, with the TalkShoe "host" being able to control their audience in the same way a radio host can.
The publish/subscribe model of podcasting is a version of push technology, in that the information provider chooses which files to offer in a feed and the subscriber chooses among available feed channels. While the user is not "pulling" individual files from the Web, there is a strong "pull" aspect in that the receiver is free to subscribe to (or unsubscribe from) a vast array of channels. Earlier Internet "push" services (e.g., PointCast) allowed a much more limited selection of content.
Podcasting is an automatic mechanism whereby multimedia computer files are transferred from a server to a client, which pulls down XML files containing the Internet addresses of the media files. In general, these files contain audio or video, but also could be images, text, PDF, or any file type.
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The content provider begins by making a file (for example, an MP3 audio file) available on the Internet. This is usually done by posting the file on a publicly available webserver; however, BitTorrent trackers also have been used, and it is not technically necessary that the file be publicly accessible. The only requirement is that the file be accessible through some known URI (a general-purpose Internet address). This file is often referred to as one episode of a podcast.
The content provider then acknowledges the existence of that file by referencing it in another file known as the feed. The feed is a list of the URLs by which episodes of the show may be accessed. This list is usually published in RSS format (although Atom can also be used), which provides other information, such as publish date, titles, and accompanying text descriptions of the series and each of its episodes. The feed may contain entries for all episodes in the series, but is typically limited to a short list of the most recent episodes, as is the case with many news feeds. Standard podcasts consist of a feed from one author. More recently multiple authors have been able to contribute episodes to a single podcast feed using concepts such as public podcasting and social podcasting.
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The content provider posts the feed on a webserver. The location at which the feed is posted is expected to be permanent. This location is known as the feed URI (or, perhaps more often, feed URL). The content provider makes this feed URI known to the intended audience.
A consumer uses a type of software known as an aggregator, sometimes called a podcatcher or podcast receiver, to subscribe to and manage their feeds.
A podcast specific aggregator is usually an always-on program which starts when the computer is started and runs in the background. They work exactly like any newsreader each at a specified interval, such as every two hours. If the feed data has substantively changed from when it was previously checked (or if the feed was just added to the application's list), the program determines the location of the most recent item and automatically downloads it. The downloaded episodes can then be played, replayed, or archived as with any other computer file. Many applications also automatically transfer the newly downloaded episodes available to a user's portable media player, which is connected to the PC running the aggregator, perhaps via a USB cable.
80% of podcast "episodes" are consumed on the PC onto which they are downloaded, or deleted from the PC without being listened to.[2]
To conserve bandwidth, users may opt to search for content using an online podcast directory. Some directories allow people to listen online and become familiar with the content provided from an RSS feed before deciding to subscribe. For most broadband users, bandwidth is generally not a major consideration.
Media RSS (MRSS) is an RSS module used for syndicating multimedia files (audio, video, image) in RSS feeds. It was designed in 2004 by Yahoo! and the Media RSS community, and adds several enhancements to RSS enclosures.
Media RSS is used by content publishers to feed media files into Yahoo! Video Search, which is a feature of Yahoo! Search that allows to search for video files.
Recently, this format has been getting increased attention, due to the development of podcasting, which uses the RSS format as a means of delivering audio content to MP3-playing devices.
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Windows RSS Platform
Hello, Walter from the land of IE Program Managers here. You might have seen or read about the RSS functionality in the user interface of IE7 Beta 2 Preview. There is a bit more to it then just letting users subscribe and read feeds from the IE7 user interface. The RSS functionality in IE7 is "powered" by the Windows RSS Platform. The Windows RSS Platform API encapsulates 3 main components: Common Feed List, Feed Synchronization Engine, and Feed Store.
The RSS functionality in IE7 is built on top of these components. While we previously announced that the Windows RSS Platform would be available for Windows Vista, we are extremely pleased to announce that the Windows RSS Platform will also be available as part of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Windows XP 64-bit.
The Windows RSS Platform is available to any application. The idea is that applications can utilize the Windows RSS Platform to become RSS enabled without having to re-implement basic RSS building blocks. This can significantly reduce the time and effort application developers have to invest in order to integrate RSS into their programs.
That’s all great, but what does that mean? And why is a Windows RSS Platform a good idea? Glad I asked ;) Let me tell you about that.
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Like many of you, I’ve been running several RSS applications (aggregators, pod casters, etc…) for some time and am subscribed to close to 100 feeds. Each time I start using another RSS application I play the "game" of OPML export and import. This quickly becomes a hassle, especially when I lose track of feeds because I subscribed to or deleted feeds in different applications and hence my feed lists are no longer in sync.
This is where the Common Feed List of the Windows RSS Platform can help. Multiple applications can read, add, or delete from the Common Feed List and hence are "sharing" the user’s list of subscribed feeds. IE7 is one such application. When you discover and subscribe to feeds in IE7, it adds them to the Common Feed List and the new subscription is available to other applications. Not only can the user benefit from multiple applications using the Common Feed List, but we expect that over time, online services will provide tools that synchronize the Common Feed List with their services. This will allow roaming of the user’s subscription list not only between applications, but also between computers.
But wait, there’s more!
I mentioned two other components above: Feed Synchronization Engine and Feed Store. Together with the Common Feed List, these components allow application developers to include support for RSS feeds without having to becomes an expert in RSS formats, synchronization schedules, enclosure downloads – or even XML(!).
Here’s what the Windows RSS Platform provides for developers:
Support for every major RSS and Atom format, as well as many popular extensions.
Background scheduled updates.
Support for server-friendly technologies like conditional GETs and RFC 3229 for feeds.
Bandwidth-friendly enclosure downloads using Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS).
API exposing a simple object model for feeds as well as direct access to the raw XML stream.
All of this functionality is available as shared technology as part of IE7 on Windows Vista and down-level. As a developer, including RSS support in your application can be amazingly easy.
I’m sure that many of you are interested in more details of the API, features, and implementation. Over the next few weeks we will post about those here on the RSS team blog. Leave us your comments and questions.
Scripting News in XML
Monday, December 15, 1997 by Dave Winer.
Goood morning!
As many people predicted the New Glasses make my neck tight!
Oh man. As my body gets accustomed to the new more complicated vision interface it's making compromises. There are only so many positions that work in each situation. Maybe only one? Whatever.
So my neck is doing work it never had to do before. To keep things in focus it has to hold my eyes in a constant position.
Maybe I should switch back to the old kind of glasses? I'm thinkin about it.
Holiday nerding
It's mid-way between the two big holidays. Christmas is over, I'm thankful for that, and we have New Year's to look forward to.
In-between is a good time for reading and stretching and maybe learning about something new?
Scripting News
My home page, http://www.scripting.com/ is like a bibliography for DaveNet.
For example, on Christmas Eve I wrote about the Marx Brothers, and on Scripting News there's a link to a great biography site for four of the Marx Brothers.
DaveNet still reaches further than Scripting News, I think, but Scripting News has been growing steadily since its debut in April 1997.
It's a content flow
Scripting News is usually updated several times a day.
When I edit the page, it's an outline. I type in items, and render the page from the most recent seven outlines. The whole process is automatic, there's almost no hand-coding of HTML, and that's made it possible for me to create a new flow in a different format, XML.
One of the promises of XML is that it will make it possible to have different kinds of browsers, custom-built to present specialized content flows.
Scripting News is such a specialized flow, but one that's becoming more common. It's a news page, just like the home pages of all the big news websites.
So I decided to take the plunge, and take the chicken out of the chicken and egg problem. Or is it the egg? Who knows. But from now on, Scripting News, in addition to being a HTML web page, is also an XML application.
It's a nice way if you're nerdy to get a quick intro to what XML is about. And if you feel like really nerding out you could write a new kind of browser in Visual Basic or Java or Bongo or Filemaker or whatever. A great long weekend project. Let's have fun!
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I hope you check it out.
http://scriptingnews.userland.com/xml/scriptingnews2.xml
Dave Winer
PS: A clear consensus says the years between 2000 and 2009 will be called The Oughts. Example: "Beverly was born in Ought-Five." Or "We sure had a great time in The Oughts."
PPS: I'm cruisin for some schmoozin! If you know any great New Year's parties in the Bay Area, or elsewhere on the west coast, send me a pointer. Private info is OK.
13 Tips to Maintaining an RSS Feed Subscriber Base
You have an RSS feed and you have worked hard to get the word out. According to your logs you have subscribers! Now the hard part: how to retain the subscribers to your RSS feed. Follow these simple steps to insure that your subscriber base will grow.
1. Original Content, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
A consistent stream of original content will do well to earn subscribers loyalty. The best RSS feeds provide content that is compelling and unique. Do not rehash existing content, look for a unique angle or spin if you wish to cover something that is hot in the blogosphere.
2. Quality Over Frequency, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
A posts quality is far more important than a post's frequency. Readers will tire of rambling or nonsensical posts that contain no real value. Time is precious and there are plenty of feeds and blogs, in order to retain readers provide quality not quantity.
3. Get it Right, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
Syndication has the power to do damage; misquoting or just plain getting it wrong can affect your reputation and perpetuate incorrect information. Be sure to verify all your RSS feed and blogs information prior to posting.
4. Literate, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
Blog posts are not instant messages: you should always use proper grammar, correct spelling and punctuation. Your posts are a reflection of your knowledge; content presentation matters and will affect how you are viewed.
5. Griping, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
Do not constantly gripe, no one likes a whiner. If you are going to complain it is not enough to point out problems, you should offer a suggestion for improvement or specifics on how to solve a problem.
6. Balance, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
Titles of RSS Feed Items and Headlines of blog posts should relate to the contents of the actual post. There is nothing worse than just tempting readers with information and not following through. Use catchy titles but be sure to follow it with related content. In your actual posts, strike a balance be sure to provide enough information without overwhelming readers.
7. Focus Action, research, article of faith, xe currency.
Regardless of your RSS feeds focus' stay on topic! Your feed or blog posts will generally revolve around a specific theme, don't stray too far or you might lose readers. If your RSS feed has a specific theme, stay true to that theme.
8. Length Matters, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
Not too long, not too short it is a difficult balance, but your post length does matter! If a post is excessively long consider breaking it up or partitioning it into easy to digest paragraphs or break it up into multiple posts. Post length should be consistent throughout your blog and feed. Try not to vary it too much.
9. Credibility, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
As a publisher, you want to be viewed as a credible source. Posting or reposting inaccurate information will reduce if not nullify any credibility that you have. Provide credentials when offering an opinion and be sure any factual information is accurate before posting.
10. Link Action, research, article of faith, xe currency.
Include links to any related information in the description field of your RSS feed, this is a great way to supplement content. Outgoing links will also often result in links back to your blog or website.
11. Consistency, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
It is important to remain consistent, try not to vary too much in your daily posts. Stay true to your formula for content if it is working.
12. Listen to Your, Audience Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
Readers will often communicate what they like and what they dislike about your content. It is important that you stay in tune with what your subscribers like and don't like and make the appropriate accommodations.
13. Advertisements, Action research, article of faith, xe currency.
Do not clutter your RSS feed with advertisements. If you choose to include advertisements in your RSS feed be sure to strike a balance between advertisements and quality content.
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