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

定義：泡播是一種通過因特網(wǎng)出版音頻廣播(作品)的方法，其中，用戶訂閱自動饋送的新文件，供爾后下載到便攜式音樂播放器或PC機上，并在它們上面播放。泡播有別于其他類型的在線媒體分發(fā)，它是在訂閱的模型上，利用自動的饋送機制(通常是RSS)遞交包封的文件。

當蘋果公司在2001年推出手持式音樂播放器——iPod的時候，幾乎無人預測到它會催生一個信息傳播的新型公眾媒體。但是自2004年秋天首次引起全國性的注意以來，不到一年，泡播已成為分銷音頻產(chǎn)品的重要渠道。

泡播標志著射頻/音頻出版(不久視頻也可能加入進來)擴展成大眾的、基于訂閱的媒體，同時使這些節(jié)目免除必須實時收聽的責難。

泡播起始于個別博客的零星行為。今天，很多商業(yè)廣播和出版公司提供泡播，包括報社、電視網(wǎng)絡(luò)、全國公共電臺、BBC、雜志和各種各樣的信息網(wǎng)站。

此術(shù)語本身就是由“iPod”和“廣播”結(jié)合而成的，包含了三方面的內(nèi)容：

1. 節(jié)目: 泡播者通常是以MP3文件的形式創(chuàng)作音頻節(jié)目，再把它們上載到網(wǎng)站?，F(xiàn)在，任何擁有計算機和麥克風的人都能創(chuàng)作音頻節(jié)目。

泡播的格式各異，從原始的、類似博客那樣的個人日記(以個人的狂言和漫談為特色)到流利的、專業(yè)制作的訪談和討論以及把商業(yè)和公眾廣播機構(gòu)的節(jié)目再次分發(fā)等。泡播的主題覆蓋了人類的所有興趣和經(jīng)歷。

2. 出版和訂閱：這是通過網(wǎng)站實現(xiàn)的，網(wǎng)站根據(jù)主題、來源、作者、元數(shù)據(jù)標志以及其他的標準，負責對泡播編制索引，方便查找和訂閱。泡播不同于其他的在線媒體分發(fā)，大體上泡播是在訂閱的模型上組織起來的，利用自動的饋送機制(如RSS或Atom)將文件傳送給聽眾。

此外，現(xiàn)在很多網(wǎng)站對成千上萬的泡播節(jié)目編制目錄，用戶只需簡單的點擊就能下載或訂閱。

3. 重放: 用戶只需簡單地把泡播下載到他的計算機，爾后轉(zhuǎn)到(常常是自動的)iPod或其他的音樂播放器，供他在方便的時候收聽，而不是按廣播的節(jié)目表收聽。正如錄像機以及后來的TiVo將電視觀眾解脫出來，不再受制于廣播公司的安排，現(xiàn)在，泡播已經(jīng)將這種能力延伸到移動播放器，供收聽音頻和電臺節(jié)目。

通過訂閱和自動將下載的泡播從計算機轉(zhuǎn)到便攜式音樂播放器，上網(wǎng)訪問得到了簡化。

(譯者注：有人將podcast譯成“播客”。但筆者認為，該詞是由“pod”和“cast”復合而成。pod取自于iPod，它只是蘋果公司MP3播放器的名稱，本身沒有什么意義，所以按其發(fā)音，譯成“泡”。而podcast與broadcast(廣播)、unicast(單播)和multicast(組播)等詞為同一詞根，所以將podcast譯成“泡播”較為貼切。)