"Podcast" was 2005's word of the year, but in 2006 you likely heard a variety of podcast related words - vidcasts, vodcast, voicecasts, phonecasts, punchcasts, mobilecasts, learncasts...new types of podcasts are continually emerging.

If you are a podcasting late bloomer, here's a little heads up on podcasting lingo.

First of all, what is a podcast?

A podcast is simply a media file, distributed either by subscription, automatically or selectively downloaded from a website; it is not however streaming content. Podcasts download quickly and can be placed onto a mobile device like an iPod.

What kind of podcasts are there?

Audio

Some podcasts are simply audio files. These types of podcasts include music, radio-type shows, interview shows, news commentary and more. Generally, these are simply referred to as podcasts.

Video

Podcasts can include video and audio together. As mentioned above, podcasts can be quickly downloaded and are not streaming, so you could download the video podcast to your portable or watch it from your desktop. Popular uses include instruction, music videos, adult videos, tv shows, newscasts and so on. These types of podcasts are often referred to as vidcasts or vodcasts, educational video casts are sometimes labeled learncasts.

Mobile

Not quite as common, but available, are podcasts designed to be downloaded to a mobile phone. As cell phone abilities increase, more memory, more format compatibility and so on, this will likely become more popular. Sometimes, these types of podcasts are called mobilecasts. A podcast that is directly sent to a mobile device may be called a punchcast.

Telephone

Podcasts can be directly launched from a cellphone, traditional phone or a VoIP connection. Some podcasters like to be able to post new podcasts from wherever they are through a phone, often referred to as phonecasting or sometimes voicecasting.

More podcasting lingo:

Posting podcasts to your blog is called blogcasting. Those that create podcasts are called podcasters. The program you use to subscribe to and organize podcasts is called an aggregator, or simply a podcatcher or podcast receiver. If you use Skype and record a session for a podcast, this is called Skypecasting. An automatically generated podcast created from a text source is an audiocast. Podcast fans comprise the podosphere. If you create podcasts for red-haired, left-handed macramé artists you are narrowcasting, because your potential audience is infinitesimal. Religious pontificators godcast. Unsigned musicians distribute their music free and without compromising copyright as podsafe music.

Pamela Stevens

Pamela Stevens writes for TopTenREVIEWS.com, a review site that publishes technology and entertainment reviews.