Thing #21: Podcasts

I have virtually no experience with this medium, so once again, this tutorial was quite informative.

I visited the "MERLIN podcasting learning link" and found the Kankakee Public Library site. They provided a concise definition of a "podcast": "The term comes from combining “iPod” and “broadcast.” An easy way to understand it is audio on demand.... Audio content delivered via RSS." I see that libraries use podcasts to bring story times and in-house events to their customers surfing from home, which obviously can be tremendously beneficial to those unable to attend such library programs in person.

I explored two podcast directories: Yahoo! Podcasts and Podcast.net. I liked the look of Yahoo! Podcasts' home page and was particularly intrigued by their "What We Like This Week - New and Noteworthy" podcasts that the Yahoo! staff members themselves found interesting. I also enjoyed their "What Other People Like" section, as well as the "Popular Tags" group... all right there on the main page. I did attempt to subscribe to a podcast using this directory but was a bit annoyed that I apparently needed to load the Yahoo! Music Engine plug-in before I could capture the podcast. It would not allow me to "just listen" either. I elected to move on to Podcast.net.

Podcast.net's home page is clean and easy to navigate. I selected Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac podcast and quite easily subscribed to it via the RSS link that was right there on the page. (My Bloglines feeds list continues to grow!) I was able to listen to the podcast very easily via Podcast.net Player in Mozilla Firefox. Because of the user-friendliness of Podcast.net, I would be happy to use it again in the future.

Interestingly, there is a banner that runs across the home page of Yahoo! Podcasts. It reads:

"Yahoo! apologizes deeply, but we will be closing down the Podcasts site on 10/31/07."