Podcasts can be an effective method of developing traffic, attracting customers and building your credibility. It can turn you from a wanna-be to a true expert in the eyes of your customers and prospects.

But what is a podcast?

The term itself is a contraction of two words - iPod and broadcast. The Apple iPod of course, is an MP3 player. An electronic version of the old tape recorder if you will.

So the term itself would indicate that a podcast is some form of a regular broadcast using MP3 audio format and portable players -- the Apple name being optional. But a podcast is really both more and less than this.

For the purposes of this article I'm going to deal with what a podcast is on four levels.

1. A podcast is an audio file. In theory it is provided in MP3 format. MP3 format is a very capable, yet very compact format used for audio recording. It is also manufacturer independent. However, podcasts can also be provided using either the Windows native format (WMA) or Apple's Quicktime audio. In fact, there are a large number of audio formats available and podcasts can be found in any of them. However, MP3 is the most popular format.

2. It is intended to be retrieved from a website (e.g. iTunes or the creator's website) and downloaded to an MP3 player such as the iPod or one of many other manufacturers products. This recording can then be played back at any time while the audience is busy doing something else. Cars are a frequent location for the playback of these files. Busy commuters can listen to something useful while traveling to and from the office.

3. Content is whatever the podcast creator wishes. Like any radio broadcast. However, typically they tend to be focused on spoken content rather than music. This content can be provided in a number of different forms including teleseminars, interviews and readings.

4. In theory podcasts do not have to be regular. However, in practice they fit into two types. One time podcasts are usually not referred to as podcasts. The repeating podcast is repeated either once per week or once per month or daily. In short, they are meant to be a regularly re-occurring broadcast of opinion, information or news. In practice, audio files which are one-time only are referred to as MP3s. The term podcast is usually restricted to broadcasts which repeat on a regular basis.

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