Podcasting

Definition: Podcasting is a method of publishing audio broadcasts via the Internet in which users subscribe to an automatic feed of new files for subsequent downloading to and playback on portable music players or PCs. Podcasting differs from other types of online media distribution in that it誷 organized on a subscription model, using automatic feeding mechanisms (typically RSS) to deliver enclosed files.

When Apple Computer Inc. introduced its handheld music player, the iPod, in 2001, few anticipated that it would spawn a new public medium for information dissemination. But in little more than a year since it first hit national consciousness in the fall of 2004, podcasting has become a significant channel for distributing audio materials.

Podcasting marks both the expansion of radio/audio publishing (with video likely to join them soon) into a populist, subscriber-based medium and the freeing of such programming from the strictures of real-time listening.

Podcasts started out as short bits from individual bloggers. Today, podcasts are available from many commercial broadcast and publishing concerns, including newspapers, television networks, National Public Radio, the BBC, magazines and various other informational Web sites.

The term itself, made by combining “iPod” and “broadcasting,” encompasses three distinct elements:

1. Programming: Podcasters create audio programs, usually in the form of MP3 files, which they upload to Web sites. Anyone with a computer and a microphone can now create audio programming.

Podcasts range in format from crude, bloglike individual diaries featuring personal rants and ramblings to slick, professionally produced interviews and discussions and redistributed programming from commercial and public broadcasting organizations. The subjects of podcasts cover the gamut of human interest and experience.

2. Publication and subscription: This takes place via Web sites that index and facilitate the finding of and subscription to podcasts according to subject matter, source, creator, metadata tags and other criteria. Podcasting differs from other types of online media distribution in that it’s largely organized on a subscription model, using automatic feeding mechanisms (such as RSS or Atom) to deliver files to audiences.

In addition, a number of Web sites now catalog thousands of available podcasts, which the user can download or subscribe to with a simple click.

3. Playback: A user simply downloads a podcast to his computer and subsequently transfers it (often automatically) to an iPod or other music player for listening to at his convenience and not the broadcaster’s schedule. VCRs and then TiVo liberated television viewers from having to adhere to broadcasters’ schedules. Now, podcasting has extended such capability to mobile players for audio and radio programming.

Access is simplified by subscription and by the automatic transfer of downloaded podcasts from a computer to a portable music player.

泡播

定义：泡播是一种通过因特网出版音频广播(作品)的方法，其中，用户订阅自动馈送的新文件，供尔后下载到便携式音乐播放器或PC机上，并在它们上面播放。泡播有别于其他类型的在线媒体分发，它是在订阅的模型上，利用自动的馈送机制(通常是RSS)递交包封的文件。

当苹果公司在2001年推出手持式音乐播放器——iPod的时候，几乎无人预测到它会催生一个信息传播的新型公众媒体。但是自2004年秋天首次引起全国性的注意以来，不到一年，泡播已成为分销音频产品的重要渠道。

泡播标志着射频/音频出版(不久视频也可能加入进来)扩展成大众的、基于订阅的媒体，同时使这些节目免除必须实时收听的责难。

泡播起始于个别博客的零星行为。今天，很多商业广播和出版公司提供泡播，包括报社、电视网络、全国公共电台、BBC、杂志和各种各样的信息网站。

此术语本身就是由“iPod”和“广播”结合而成的，包含了三方面的内容：

1. 节目: 泡播者通常是以MP3文件的形式创作音频节目，再把它们上载到网站。现在，任何拥有计算机和麦克风的人都能创作音频节目。

泡播的格式各异，从原始的、类似博客那样的个人日记(以个人的狂言和漫谈为特色)到流利的、专业制作的访谈和讨论以及把商业和公众广播机构的节目再次分发等。泡播的主题覆盖了人类的所有兴趣和经历。

2. 出版和订阅：这是通过网站实现的，网站根据主题、来源、作者、元数据标志以及其他的标准，负责对泡播编制索引，方便查找和订阅。泡播不同于其他的在线媒体分发，大体上泡播是在订阅的模型上组织起来的，利用自动的馈送机制(如RSS或Atom)将文件传送给听众。

此外，现在很多网站对成千上万的泡播节目编制目录，用户只需简单的点击就能下载或订阅。

3. 重放: 用户只需简单地把泡播下载到他的计算机，尔后转到(常常是自动的)iPod或其他的音乐播放器，供他在方便的时候收听，而不是按广播的节目表收听。正如录像机以及后来的TiVo将电视观众解脱出来，不再受制于广播公司的安排，现在，泡播已经将这种能力延伸到移动播放器，供收听音频和电台节目。

通过订阅和自动将下载的泡播从计算机转到便携式音乐播放器，上网访问得到了简化。

(译者注：有人将podcast译成“播客”。但笔者认为，该词是由“pod”和“cast”复合而成。pod取自于iPod，它只是苹果公司MP3播放器的名称，本身没有什么意义，所以按其发音，译成“泡”。而podcast与broadcast(广播)、unicast(单播)和multicast(组播)等词为同一词根，所以将podcast译成“泡播”较为贴切。)