Podcast
A podcast is an episodic series of spoken word digital audio files that a user can download to a personal device for easy listening. Streaming applications and podcasting services provide a convenient, integrated way to manage a personal consumption queue across many podcast sources and playback devices.
A podcast series usually features one or more recurring hosts engaged in a discussion about a particular topic or current event. Discussion and content within a podcast can range from carefully scripted to totally improvised. Podcasts combine elaborate and artistic sound production with thematic concerns ranging from scientific research to slice-of-life journalism. Many podcast series provide an associated website with links and show notes, guest biographies, transcripts, additional resources, commentary, and even a community forum dedicated to discussing the show's content.
The cost to the consumer is low. While many podcasts are free to download, others are underwritten by corporations or sponsored, with the inclusion of commercial advertisements. In other cases, a podcast could also be a business venture supported by some combination of a paid subscription model, advertising or product delivered after sale.
People are motivated to create a podcast for a number of reasons. The podcast producer, who is often the podcast host as well, may wish to express a personal passion, increase professional visibility, enter into a social network of influencers or influential ideas, cultivate a community of like-minded viewership, or put forward pedagogical or ideological ideas (possibly under philanthropic support).
Because podcast content is often free or, at the very least, affordable for the average podcast consumer, podcasting is often classified as a disruptive medium, which is adverse to the maintenance of traditional revenue models. Long-running podcasts with a substantial back catalogue are amenable to binge consumption.
Production
A podcast generator maintains a central list of the files on a server as a web feed that one can access through the Internet. The listener or viewer uses special client application software on a computer or media player, known as a podcatcher, which accesses this web feed, checks it for updates, and downloads any new files in the series. This process can be automated to download new files automatically, so it may seem to subscribers as though podcasters broadcast or "push" new episodes to them. Files are stored locally on the user's device, ready for offline use.[1]
There are several different mobile applications that allow people to subscribe and listen to podcasts. Many of these applications allow users to download podcasts or to stream them on demand as an alternative to downloading. Most podcast players or applications allow listeners to skip around the podcast and to control the playback speed.
Podcasting has been considered a converged medium[2] (a medium that brings together audio, the web and portable media players), as well as a disruptive technology that has caused some individuals in radio broadcasting to reconsider established practices and preconceptions about audiences, consumption, production and distribution.[3]
Podcasts can be produced at little to no cost and are usually disseminated free-of-charge, which sets this medium apart from the traditional 20th-Century model of "gate-kept" media and their production tools. Podcasters can, however, still monetize their podcasts by allowing companies to purchase ad time. They can also garner support from listeners through crowdfunding websites like Patreon, which provides special extras and content to listeners for a fee. Podcasting is very much a horizontal media[4] form—producers are consumers, consumers may become producers, and both can engage in conversations with each other.[3]
Name
"Podcast" is a portmanteau, a combination of "iPod" and "broadcast".[5] The term "podcasting" was first suggested by The Guardian columnist and BBC journalist Ben Hammersley,[6] who invented it in early February 2004 while penning an article for The Guardian newspaper.[7] The term was first used in the audioblogging community in September 2004, when Danny Gregoire introduced it in a message to the iPodder-dev mailing list,[8] from where it was adopted by Adam Curry.[9] Despite the etymology, the content can be accessed using any computer or similar device that can play media files. Use of the term "podcast" predated Apple's addition of formal support for podcasting to the iPod, or its iTunes software.[10]
Other names for podcasting include "net cast", intended as a vendor-neutral term without the loose reference to the Apple iPod. This name is used by shows from the TWiT.tv network.[11] Some sources have also suggested the backronym "portable on demand" or "POD", for similar reasons.[12]
History
In October 2000, the concept of attaching sound and video files in RSS feeds was proposed in a draft by Tristan Louis.[13] The idea was implemented by Dave Winer, a software developer and an author of the RSS format.[14]
Podcasting, once an obscure method of spreading audio information, has become a recognized medium for distributing audio content, whether for corporate or personal use. Podcasts are similar to radio programs in form, but they exist as audio files that can be played at a listener's convenience, anytime or anywhere.[15]
The first application to make this process feasible was iPodderX, developed by August Trometer and Ray Slakinski.[16] By 2007, audio podcasts were doing what was historically accomplished via radio broadcasts, which had been the source of radio talk shows and news programs since the 1930s.[17] This shift occurred as a result of the evolution of internet capabilities along with increased consumer access to cheaper hardware and software for audio recording and editing.
In October 2003, Matt Schichter launched his weekly chat show The BackStage Pass. B.B. King, Third Eye Blind, Gavin DeGraw, The Beach Boys, and Jason Mraz were notable guests the first season. The hour long radio show was recorded live, transcoded to 16kbit/s audio for dial-up online streaming. Despite a lack of a commonly accepted identifying name for the medium at the time of its creation, The Backstage Pass which became known as Matt Schichter Interviews[18] is commonly believed to be the first podcast to be published online.
In August 2004, Adam Curry launched his show Daily Source Code. It was a show focused on chronicling his everyday life, delivering news, and discussions about the development of podcasting, as well as promoting new and emerging podcasts. Curry published it in an attempt to gain traction in the development of what would come to be known as podcasting and as a means of testing the software outside of a lab setting. The name Daily Source Code was chosen in the hope that it would attract an audience with an interest in technology.[19]
Daily Source Code started at a grassroots level of production and was initially directed at podcast developers. As its audience became interested in the format, these developers were inspired to create and produce their own projects and, as a result, they improved the code used to create podcasts. As more people learned how easy it was to produce podcasts, a community of pioneer podcasters quickly appeared.[20]
In June 2005, Apple released iTunes 4.9 which added formal support for podcasts, thus negating the need to use a separate program in order to download and transfer them to a mobile device. While this made access to podcasts more convenient and widespread, it also effectively ended advancement of podcatchers by independent developers. Additionally, Apple issued cease and desist orders to many podcast application developers and service providers for using the term "iPod" or "Pod" in their products' names.[21]
Within a year, many podcasts from public radio networks like the BBC, CBC Radio One, NPR, and Public Radio International placed many of their radio shows on the iTunes platform. In addition, major local radio stations like WNYC in New York City and WHYY-FM radio in Philadelphia, KCRW in Los Angeles placed their programs on their websites and later on the iTunes platform.
Concurrently, CNET, This Week in Tech, and later Bloomberg Radio, the Financial Times, and other for-profit companies provided podcast content, some using podcasting as their only distribution system.
IP issues in trademark and patent law
Trademark applications
Between February 10 and 25 March 2005, Shae Spencer Management, LLC of Fairport, New York filed a trademark application to register the term "podcast" for an "online prerecorded radio program over the internet". On September 9, 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected the application, citing Wikipedia's podcast entry as describing the history of the term. The company amended their application in March 2006, but the USPTO rejected the amended application as not sufficiently differentiated from the original. In November 2006, the application was marked as abandoned.[22]
As of September 20, 2005, known trademarks that attempted to capitalize on podcast included: ePodcast, GodCast, GuidePod, MyPod, Pod-Casting, Podango, PodCabin, Podcast, Podcast Realty, Podcaster, PodcastPeople, Podgram PodKitchen, PodShop, and Podvertiser.[17]
By February 2007, there had been 24 attempts to register trademarks containing the word "PODCAST" in the United States, but only "PODCAST READY" from Podcast Ready, Inc. was approved.[23]
Apple trademark protections
On September 26, 2004, it was reported that Apple Inc. had started to crack down on businesses using the string "POD", in product and company names. Apple sent a cease and desist letter that week to Podcast Ready, Inc., which markets an application known as "myPodder".[24] Lawyers for Apple contended that the term "pod" has been used by the public to refer to Apple's music player so extensively that it falls under Apple's trademark cover.[25] Such activity was speculated to be part of a bigger campaign for Apple to expand the scope of its existing iPod trademark, which included trademarking "IPOD", "IPODCAST", and "POD".[26] On November 16, 2006, the Apple Trademark Department stated that "Apple does not object to third-party usage of the generic term 'podcast' to accurately refer to podcasting services" and that "Apple does not license the term". However, no statement was made as to whether or not Apple believed they held rights to it.[27]
Personal Audio lawsuits
Personal Audio, a company referred to as a "patent troll" by the Electronic Frontier Foundation,[28] filed a patent on podcasting in 2009 for a claimed invention in 1996.[29] In February 2013, Personal Audio started suing high-profile podcasters for royalties,[28] including The Adam Carolla Show and the HowStuffWorks podcast. US Congressman Peter DeFazio's previously proposed "SHIELD Act" intended to curb patent trolls.[30]
In October 2013, the EFF filed a petition with the US Trademark Office to invalidate the Personal Audio patent.[31]
On August 18, 2014, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that Adam Carolla had settled with Personal Audio.[32]
On April 10, 2015, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office invalidated five provisions of Personal Audio's podcasting patent.[33]
Variants
Enhanced podcasts
An enhanced podcast includes links to images which are synchronized with the podcast, turning it into a narrated slide show.[34]
Podcast novels
A podcast novel (also known as a "serialized audiobook" or "podcast audiobook") is a literary form that combines the concepts of a podcast and an audiobook. Like a traditional novel, a podcast novel is a work of literary fiction; however it is recorded into episodes that are delivered online over a period of time. The episodes may be delivered automatically via RSS or through a website, blog, or other syndication method. Episodes can be released on a regular schedule, e.g., once a week, or irregularly as each episode is completed. In the same manner as audiobooks, podcast novels may be elaborately narrated with sound effects and separate voice actors for each character, similar to a radio play, or they may have a single narrator and few or no sound effects.[35]
Some podcast novelists give away a free podcast version of their book as a form of promotion.[36] On occasion such novelists have secured publishing contracts to have their novels printed.[37] Podcast novelists have commented that podcasting their novels lets them build audiences even if they cannot get a publisher to buy their books. These audiences then make it easier to secure a printing deal with a publisher at a later date. These podcast novelists also claim the exposure that releasing a free podcast gains them makes up for the fact that they are giving away their work for free.[38]
Video podcasts
A video podcast or vodcast is a podcast that contains video content. Web television series are often distributed as video podcasts. Dead End Days, a serialized dark comedy about zombies released from 31 October 2003 through 2004, is commonly believed to be the first video podcast.[39]
Live podcasts
A number of podcasts are recorded either in total or for specific episodes in front of a live audience. Ticket sales allow the podcasters an additional way of monetising. Some podcasts create specific live shows to tour which are not necessarily included on the podcast feed. Events including the London Podcast Festival,[40] SF Sketchfest[41] and others regularly give a platform for podcasters to perform live to audiences.
Uses
Communities use collaborative podcasts to support multiple contributors podcasting through generally simplified processes, and without having to host their own individual feeds. A community podcast can also allow members of the community (related to the podcast topic) to contribute to the podcast in many different ways. This method was first used for a series of podcasts hosted by the Regional Educational Technology Center at Fordham University in 2005. Anders Gronstedt explores how businesses like IBM and EMC use podcasts as an employee training and communication channel.[42][43]
As of early 2019, the podcasting industry still generated little overall revenue,[44] although the number of persons who listen to podcasts continues to grow steadily. Edison Research, which issues the Podcast Consumer quarterly tracking report, estimates that in 2019, 90 million persons in the U.S. have listened to a podcast in the last month.[45] In 2020, 58% of the population of South Korea and 40% of the Spanish population had listened to a podcast in the last month. 12.5% of the UK population had listened to a podcast in the last week.[46] A small, yet efficient number of listeners are also podcast creators. Creating a podcast is reasonably inexpensive. It requires just a microphone, laptop or other personal computer, and a room with some sound blocking. Podcast creators tend to have a good listener base because of their relationships with the listeners.[47]
See also
References
- "Podcast Production". Harvard Graduate School of Education. 2012. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
... This code enables specially designed software to locate and track new versions or episodes of a particular podcast ...
- Berry, Richard (2015). "Serial and ten years of podcasting: Has the medium grown up?". Radio, Sounds & Internet: 299–209. Archived from the original on July 4, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2020 – via Academia.edu.
- Berry, Richard (May 1, 2006). "Will the iPod Kill the Radio Star? Profiling Podcasting as Radio" (PDF). Convergence. 12 (2): 143–162. doi:10.1177/1354856506066522. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 26, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
- Stratmann, Jo (July 20, 2011). "'Horizontal media' - how social media has changed journalism". FreshMinds. Archived from the original on November 16, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
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- "ipodder-dev : Message: How to handle getting past episodes?". Yahoo Groups. September 12, 2004. Archived from the original on April 13, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
- Levy, Steven (2006). The Perfect Thing. Simon & Schuster. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-7432-8522-3. Archived from the original on July 4, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
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- Ricks, Byron (2007). "Create your own podcast: What you need to know to be a podcaster". Microsoft Windows. Archived from the original on December 25, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
- Louis, Tristan (October 13, 2000). "Suggestion for RSS 0.92 specification". groups.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on November 11, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
- Pot, Justin, 2013-08-23 The Evolution Of The Podcast — How A Medium Was Born
- Massing, Michael (2 April 2019). "Are the Humanities History?". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- "Podcast". redOrbit. 2013-03-16. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013.
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- "Matt Schichter Interviews by Scared Goose Productions on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
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- "Podcast trademark rejection documents". USPTO. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- "List of US podcast trademarks". USPTO. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Holliman, Russell (September 26, 2006). "Podcast Ready Receives Cease & Desist from Apple Computer". Podcast Ready. Archived from the original on October 5, 2006.
- Heater, Brian (March 24, 2009). "Apple's Legal Team Going After 'Pod' People". PC Magazine. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Longo, Jeffrey (September 25, 2006). "Podcast Trademark Controversy". MacRumors. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Global Geek Podcast. "Copy of the letter from Apple Trademark Department". Flickr. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Nazer, Daniel (May 30, 2013). "Help Save Podcasting!". EFF. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- "System for disseminating media content representing episodes in a serialized sequence". Google Patents. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Samuels, Julie (February 5, 2013). "Podcasting Community Faces Patent Troll Threat; EFF Wants to Help". EFF. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
Personal Audio is claiming that it owns a patent that covers podcasting technology.
- "EFF v. Personal Audio LLC". EFF. 2014-04-21. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Nazer, Daniel (August 18, 2014). "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Adam Carolla's Settlement with the Podcasting Troll". EFF. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Fung, Brian (April 10, 2015). "How the government just protected some of your favorite podcasts". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- "Definition of enhanced podcast". PCMAG. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- Florin, Hector (January 31, 2009). "Podcasting Your Novel: Publishing's Next Wave?". Time. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Cadelago, Chris (April 5, 2008). "Take my book. It's free". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Newman, Andrew Adam (March 1, 2007). "Authors Find Their Voice, and Audience, in Podcasts". The New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Gaughran, David (September 5, 2011). ""Free" Really Can Make You Money – A Dialogue With Moses Siregar III". Let's Get Digital. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- "What is a Video Podcast?". wiseGEEK. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- "How To Get 20% Off Tickets To The London Podcast Festival". Bustle. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
- Desk, BWW News. "SF SKETCHFEST Announces Additions To Festival Lineup". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
- Gronstedt, Anders (June 2007). "Employees Get an Earful". Harvard Business Review. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- Gronstedt, Anders (May 3, 2007). Basics of Podcasting (PDF). ASTD. ISBN 978-1-56286-488-0. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
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- Staff (5 April 2019). "The Podcast Consumer 2019". edisonresearch.com. Edison Research. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 November 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- Sawyer, Miranda (2020-05-03). "It's boom time for podcasts – but will going mainstream kill the magic?". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
- Smith, Steve (November 22, 2016). "Podcasts: Can They Hear Us Now". EContent. Vol. 39 no. 8. Information Today, Inc. p. 9. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
External links
Podcasting at Wikibooks Media related to Podcasts at Wikimedia Commons - Podcasting Legal Guide: Rules for the Revolution, information by Creative Commons