What+is+Podcasting?

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The logo used by Apple to represent Podcasting. A **podcast** is a series of [|audio] or [|video] [|digital media] files which are distributed over the [|Internet] by [|syndicated] [|download], through [|Web feeds], to [|portable media players] and [|personal computers]. Though the same content may also be made available by direct download or [|streaming], a podcast is distinguished from most other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded [|automatically] when new content is added. Like the term //[|broadcast]//, //podcast// can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called **podcasting**. The host or [|author] of a podcast is often called a **podcaster**. The term is a [|portmanteau] of the words "iPod" and "broadcast",[|[][|1][|]] the [|Apple] [|iPod] being the brand of portable media player for which the first podcasting [|scripts] were developed (see [|history of podcasting]). Such scripts allow podcasts to be automatically transferred from a personal computer to a mobile device after they are downloaded.[|[][|2][|]] As more devices other than iPods became able to synchronize with podcast feeds, a [|backronym] developed where //podcast// stood for "Personal On Demand broadCAST."[|[][|3][|]][|[][|4][|]][|[][|5][|]] though such a definition would create a [|misnomer], because podcasts are not available "on demand"; they are subscribed to and usually received at set intervals. Such a definition would more accurately describe a direct download or streaming media.