The PC Utilities Guide to...

Podcasting tools

We explorer freeware applications that make subscribing to podcasts, and creating and distributing your own much easier

In February 2004, journalist Ben Hammersley, writing for The Guardian, came up with suggested names for the process of listening to audioblogs. Not that this was unusual — other people had been trying to provide an apt title for some time, with earlier suggestions including 'blogcasting', 'audio magazines' and 'webcasting'. Hammersley himself dropped in 'podcast' along with other suggestions.

With the benefit of hindsight, podcast deserved to take hold — as well as being the most concise title, it was by far the best of the suggestions. His neologism (it has now entered the OED) was probably derived from the two terms 'iPod' and 'broadcast'. This was fair enough because, at the time of writing, people wanted to download broadcasts onto portable media players, and the principle example of this was Apple's iPod. However, despite its lasting currency, the term podcast is now something of a misnomer; podcasting doesn't require an iPod (or any other portable media player) and doesn't involve any traditional broadcasting.

So what exactly is podcasting? In essence, it consists of allowing users to listen to whatever they want, whenever they want. While the mechanics of how podcasting delivers this are extremely technical, the practice is reassuringly simple to grasp, largely because of the mass of free software designed to facilitate it.

As we've seen from Hammersley's article, podcasts were originally audioblogs; however, they now cover a far wider area. Entire radio shows are currently available as podcasts. Religious organisations provide talks as 'godcasts'; sporting events are covered and disseminated as 'sportscasts'; and commercial and news organisations put out international podcasts.

Even politicians and political parties allow interviews to be podcasted — until his exit from office, George Bush's weekly radio address was also available.

There's money in podcasting too; the Ricky Gervais Show became officially the most downloaded podcast despite (in its later incarnations) charging a fee.

You don't need to be a household name or run your own country to start your own podcast. Podcasting allows anyone to set up an share their own radio show online.

— Stephen Copestake. This article is an excerpt from a larger article in issue 109 of PC Utilities magazine. Each month PC Utilities magazine reviews scores of great new programs. Have you considered taking advantage of our no-risk subscription offer?

This page was last updated on 06 Jun 2009

# Name
1

Audacity REVIEW PIC USER
Create, edit and mix sounds on your PC with this excellent freeware tool - Open Source

2

Beatsuite.com Podcast Promo Soundpack 1
Access a wide variety of royalty-free loops and stings for use in your podcasts

3

iTunes REVIEW PIC
Organise and listen to your digital audio collection and podcasts with the popular Apple media player

4

NewPodFeed
Create new iTunes-compatible RSS/XML feeds for podcasts

5

Podcast Assistant
Generate the XML code required to distribute your podcast online or through iTunes

6

Podifier
Automatically create the XML code required to publish a podcast on the Internet

7

Podsafe Music and Audio Elements - Sting Pack
Add royalty-free musical effects and interludes to your podcasts

8

trakAxPC REVIEW PIC
Create professional-quality music and video mixes in an easy-to-use multi-track environment