Podcasting: Internet radio delivered to you

If you're new to podcasting or haven't heard the term before, a podcast is basically an Internet-based radio show in the form of an mp3. People from all walks of life are creating their own podcasts on a variety of topics—from business to comedy to music to politics—and in a variety of formats such as talk radio, interviews, poetry readings, and music playlists. As with any other mp3, you can listen to a podcast by simply downloading it. Although podcasting takes its name from the iPod, you do not need an an iPod to listen to a podcast, or to create one. Your podcasts will play just as easily on the new Sony NW-HD3 Network Walkman™ Digital Music Player. In a nutshell, if you can download and play an mp3 file, you can listen to a podcast.

Subscribing to Podcasts

One of the biggest benefits of podcasting, though, is that you don't have to check your favorite podcast web sites every day for new episodes and manually download them. Instead, there is software that allows you to subscribe to podcasts. When you subscribe, each new episode of the podcast is automatically downloaded to your computer—and can even be copied to your portable audio player—as soon as it becomes available. This makes it easy and convenient to stay up to date with your favorite podcasts, allowing you to listen at your leisure.

The software that allows you to subscribe to podcasts is called an aggregator. Aggregators have been popular for quite some time in the blogging world, where people use them to automatically retrieve new posts from their favorite blogs. More recently, aggregators have been modified so that they can also collect mp3's, thus paving the way for podcasting. Some people even refer to podcast aggregators as "podcatchers".

Some popular examples of aggregator software are iPodder and Doppler. Once you've installed an aggregator, simply enter the URL for a podcast and you've subscribed to it. The aggregator will then periodically check (you choose how often) for new episodes and will download them for you as soon as they appear, saving you the time of searching the Internet and manually downloading the files.

ACIDplanet Podcasts

Our official ACIDplanet podcasts contain music by ACIDplanet.com artists, and highlight their work in the realm of independent music. We hope that our podcasts bring more exposure to them, and also bring new listeners back to the ACIDplanet site where they can discover even more new artists and music. Each podcast contains five songs, along with a brief introduction containing each song's title and the artist's name.

Listening to ACIDplanet podcasts is easy. Simply go to our ACIDplanet Podcasts page. For immediate gratification, click the "Download the MP3" link and start listening right away. If you already have an aggregator and want to subscribe, simply follow your aggregator's instructions for entering the ACIDplanet podcast URL. If you don't have an aggegator yet, you'll find more information on podcasting and links for downloading free aggregator software so that you can get the full podcast experience.

Free Podcast Hosting for ACIDplanet ProZone Members

Want to create your own podcast? First, record your show and save it to mp3 format. Next, you'll need to create an XML file with an RSS feed that supports mp3 enclosures. Then place both files on your web server...

If we lost you there, you'll be happy to hear that ACIDplanet.com is offering free podcast hosting for ProZone™ members. With an ACIDplanet ProZone account, you don't need to know a thing about hosting a website to host your own podcasts. Simply go to the podcast upload page, enter a title and a description of your podcast, select your mp3, and submit. We'll take care of the rest. And podcast hosting is just one of many ProZone features that make ACIDplanet.com the best choice for hosting your podcasts, music and videos.

If you're already an ACIDplanet member, a podcast is a great way to promote your music. And if you're new to podcasting, ACIDplanet.com is a great place to get started. For more information on a ProZone account, and to get started podcasting, click here.

To find podcasts by ACIDplanet ProZone artists, click here.