Podcasting is enabled through RSS enclosures, a new feature of RSS 2.0. Earlier versions of RSS don’t support enclosures, and neither does the Atom format used by Blogger. If you publish your feed through Feedburner’s free SmartCast service, Feedburner will insert the appropriate enclosures for your media files as it turns your Atom-based or pre-RSS-2.0-based feed into an RSS 2.0 feed.

Feedburner also provides a podcast-friendly interface to your feed, similar to its browser-friendly interface. When someone clicks on the link to your podcast feed, instead of seeing the raw feed in their browser, they’ll see a nice user-friendly webpage about podcasts, including what they are, what you can listen to them with and download them with, and so forth.

As time goes by, more blogging and feed generation tools will support the easy integration of rich media enclosures into their output. Today, version 1.5 of WordPress seamlessly supports audio podcasting. Others will certainly follow shortly, and several may be available by the time you read this.

Which Feed Readers Support Podcasting

Since podcasting is still an emerging technology, some feed readers support it directly and some don’t. Everyone will eventually support it, the question is when. Check to see if your feed reader supports it directly or with the help of an additional software client like iPodder or Doppler. More and more will every day.

The Future of Podcasting

With the rapid increase in the number of podcast feeds, internet users who listen to them, sales of iPods and other digital media devices, and offerings from Feedburner which allow everyone to create media feeds, the concept of specialized feed clients utilizing RSS enclosures (whether still termed podcasting or not) is here to stay. Even networked consumer electronics will soon be RSS-ready, able to play rich media delivered in RSS feeds on the internet.

Big players are moving into the podcasting space. Viacom’s Infinity Broadcasting chief recently told the Wall Street Journal that he thinks broadcasting over the internet “is going to explode” and hopefully create a new stream of advertising revenue. Infinity planned to begin streaming major news and talk shows in March. KCRW, a National Public Radio station in southern California, has announced plans to deliver many local programs as podcasts. More content creators are jumping on the podcasting and internet broadcasting bandwagon every day.

Today’s podcasts range from a few minutes of quick tips to half-hour “radio” shows, and everything in between. Keep an eye on the podcast directories on my site for ideas. It’s really up to you to create something which a core of listeners will feel compelled to remain subscribed to. Be creative, then promote your content far and wide with RSS!

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