Podcasting is the latest craze to sweep across parts of the internet. It works like this: producers of audio content make it available by publishing an RSS feed with enclosures pointing at mp3 versions of their content, the end user then subscribes to a feed using their choice of software, which can then sync the chosen feeds with their iPod (or similar). Of course, you don’t have to get the content this way – you could just monitor the feeds and download the mp3s yourself – but the original concept revolved around getting alternative audio content automatically onto your iPod, hence the name.

Promoted by people like Dave Winer and Adam Curry, who describes the history of podcasting in a post at iPodder.org, the idea has started to take off in a big way and there are now a variety of programs for all platforms that pull content, an increasing number of feeds to subscribe to, and community resources like a centralised directory and web-based aggregator. This’ll really reach critical mass if major broadcasters can be convinced to climb aboard and produce feeds of their content – but although podcasting is already attracting the attention of broadcasters over the pond, right now it’s still mainly an internet subculture closely related to blogging.

Despite some criticisms of “audioblogging”, such as this Audioblogging Manifesto, I think that podcasting is a really fantastic development. Although there are plenty of good points in that transcript, there’s still a place for podcasting. It’s not hypertext so arguably not really the web, but so what – it’s something different: pick’n'mix radio for the masses – or at least those of the masses who have access to reasonable bandwidth and diskspace. (In case you think that in today’s world of broadband internet connections and multi-gigabyte hard disks these aren’t concerns, bear in mind that Adam Curry himself recently had problems with bandwidth availability, and he’s someone for whom I’d guess resources aren’t usually a problem.)

Still, that’s an isolated example and with the current uptake of broadband I doubt that such issues will really be a problem for too long. And the concept’s a great one – I’d love to be able to syndicate mp3 content from my favourite radio stations and listen to it when I wanted to – like on my twenty minute walk into work, or at lunchtimes – you get the idea. Realplayer streaming from the BBC radio website isn’t quite the same thing. In the meantime, I’ll just have to settle for the content being put on the net by bloggers and enthusiasts, which half the time is more interesting than commerical radio any way.

Lastly, hope you like the UK, Mr. Curry!