Podcasts open up a world of possibilities

A peculiar thing is happening to my iPod. I rarely use the sleek, white device for playing music. Instead, I'm using it to play podcasts - web-based shows that are converted into audio files and posted on the internet for downloading.

Listening to music on the move is great, but podcasts allow you to feed your mind or have a laugh as you do mundane things like hit the treadmill or browse the supermarket shelves.

Initially I was sceptical about podcasting, but there's some real talent in the podcasting community and the heavyweight news and media generators are embracing it, compelled by the branding and advertising opportunities the medium offers.

We therefore get the very good Economist magazine podcast and more news-focused podcasts from the BBC and New York Times. In just about any genre you can think of, there are podcasters operating and the medium is being used by various interest groups to get their views across. One of the fastest growing areas is religious podcasting, where sermons and daily prayer sessions are being converted for downloading. The list of downloads available through Godcast1000.com is huge.

Podcasts take advantage of a great piece of web technology - RSS (really simple syndication) feeds. They allow you to subscribe to podcasts so you don't have to visit the website each time you want to download the latest programme. The bandwidth demands aren't excessive, but you really need to be on a broadband connection to download in a reasonable time. I've subscribed to several podcasts at the iTunes music store. In New Zealand, we still can't make purchases on www.itunes.com but we are able to download the free podcasts. The Top 100 list is a good place to start. Using the iTunes media player software you select the podcasts you want to subscribe to, or under the "Advanced" tab type the RSS feed address of your chosen podcaster.

There are many podcast players available with www.dopplerradio.net, juicereceiver.sourceforge.net and ipodder.org among the popular ones.

There's also been an explosion in the market for software that lets you make your own podcasts. I'm experimenting with Wild Voice. It gives you a free recording and editing suite to create podcasts, insert bits of audio and convert it all into a high-quality mp3 file, which can be played back on most computers and music players.

Locally, the podcast scene is relatively virgin territory, but www.thevoicebooth.com brings together feeds for a number of local shows.

Radio New Zealand has a good podcasting service (www.radionz.co.nz/podcasts) that converts the individual shows into programmes for download. I'm rarely near the radio on Sunday morning when Mediawatch airs, so I download the podcast for later listening.

One of the more useful podcasts to appear is that of TVNZ's ASB Business (www.tvnz.co.nz) show, which packages up the business news that screens at 6.30am each weekday. I'm never up at that time to see it, so the podcast is a good way to catch stories I've missed. If you're a fan of the TV "talent" show NZ Idol, you may be interested in checking out the idolblog.com podcasts. Sorry Frankie, they won't be making my podcast list any time soon.