Podcasting Glossary

Bed - audio that is reused as a backround element, such as music or effects

Blog - see weblog

Board - short for mixing board, a tool for combining multiple audio sources into one signal for recording

Enclosures - enclosures are a way of linking to media files within an RSS 2.0 news feed. Podcast clients can identify enclosures within a feed and automatically download them.

Imaging - term for using audio effects, spoken phrases or music to create an "image" or brand for a radio station or show.

iPodder - one of the original podcast clients, iPodder is a free program that can automatically download new shows when they become available, and synchronize them with portable digital audio players.

News feed - a collection of news or story highlights made available on the Internet in a standard format, usually RSS 2.0. News feeds are used to publish information about podcasts. Podcast clients can subscribe to podcast news feeds, and use their information to find new shows and download them.

Podcast - in common use, the term refers to audio files published to the web along with a news feed, letting users subscribe to a series of shows and download them automatically. Podcasts are a collection of files, such as audio MP3 files or other media files, referenced in an RSS 2.0 news feed as enclosures.

Podcasting - the process of publishing audio files, typically in MP3 format, along with news feeds so that listeners can download them and listen to them on their computer or portable digital audio player.

Podcatcher - a term for programs used to subscribe to and download podcasts

PSA - public service announcement

RSS - aka Really Simple Syndication  is the most popular news feed syndication format; RSS 2.0 is the defacto feed format for podcasting.

Skype - an Internet telephony service that lets you make calls via an Internet connection

Stinger - a brief sound or musical phrase used as "audio punctuation".

Video Podcasting - the process of publishing video files along with news feeds so that listeners can download them and watch them on their computer or portable digital video player.

Vlog - see Video Podcast

Weblog - a website, usually built with user-friendly web content management systems, that feature chronologically arranged entries. Podcasts are often published using weblog tools such as Movable Type and Blogger.

If you have suggestions or comments about the podcast glossary, please let us know.