What constitutes a podcast?

[DailySplice]

I posted a this question on my blog today... but since nobody READS my blog, I though I'd post it here too:

The common definition of a podcast (Wikipedia, About, Dictionary.com, etc.) is an audio file on an rss feed. But I'd argue that there's got to be some kind of repeated publishing element or consistency for it to be a podcast. I'd say a regular youtube poster or even someone who just publishes an media clip on his website without the RSS feed is more of a podcaster than say, someone who does one episode, wraps it in an RSS feed, and never publishes again.

I'm trying to build a true podcast directory (one that looks beyond the RSS feed requirement), and I'm looking for opinions. Agree/disagree? Thanks!

ps. if you want to read my full blog post you can at http://blog.dailysplice.com/general/what-constitutes-a-podcast/

[Yotto]

If you can't subscribe to it via an RSS feed, it's not a podcast.

If it's one episode in an RSS feed, it's a podcast. it's a bad (or new) podcast, but it's a podcast.

If it's 100 episodes but there's no feed, it's something, and it's possibly a very good example of whatever it is, but it's not a podcast.

Oh, and it can be video too. Or ogg, or acc, or anything else. Audio or video, any format.

[DailySplice]

What if it is an RSS feed that links to YouTube videos?

or what if you chose not to include an rss feed on your site, but someone made a yahoo pipe and put it on an RSS feed? Then would your non-podcast be a podcast? Is the RSS feed the podcast or is the media the podcast? If it's the RSS feed, then is the guy who creates the feed the podcaster?

[stereoradiation]

What if it is an RSS feed that links to YouTube videos?If the subscriber can't download the video files more or less automagically via a standard aggregator, it is not a podcast. It could be considered a video blog or vlog or something else.
or what if you chose not to include an rss feed on your site, but someone made a yahoo pipe and put it on an RSS feed? Then would your non-podcast be a podcast? From the subscribers perspective, Yes. The content would be fed directly to the subscribers. You as a content creator could say "my show is available as a podcast. I had nothing to do with its dissemination, but it's a podcast."
Is the RSS feed the podcast or is the media the podcast? If it's the RSS feed, then is the guy who creates the feed the podcaster?Feed + Media. If you create the media and someone else (without authorization) pipes it through a feed, I would consider that someone else to be the podcaster, and the media creator to be the talent. This is because of the way "podcasting" is analogous to "broadcasting," and even to agricultural "casting," wherein the "caster" is not the seed supplier, but rather he who throws the seeds into the field.

I don't consider Brian Williams a podcaster, even though you can get NBC Nightly News as a podcast. NBC is the podcaster.

[Yotto]

The rss feed and the media, together, is the podcast.

If you can plug the url to the xml file into a podcatcher and get some sort of media file downloaded to your comptuer to watch when you're not connected to the internet, it's a podcast.

Period.

If the Youtube videos need to be viewed in a browser (I don't know much about Youtube. I view them sometimes but other than that ignore them) then an rss feed of links to them is not a podcast. It's a blog with links. If they're embedded, it's a blog with embedded flash. If they're enclosures and you can put them on your portable media player and watch them, they're a podcast.

If you have 100 mp3s and you don't have an RSS feed, and someone makes one for you, then I suppose the two of them together are a podcast. Seems odd, but it fits the definition.

Note: I am not saying anything about what's right and wrong. I'm not saying an rss feed full of links to Youtube videos is BAD. I can see it as a valid, useful thing. It's just not a podcast. Nor is it a car, a fence, or an office building. It's something else.

[DailySplice]

Fair enough...

I guess people who subscribe to a podcast via email would not be getting the real podcast then? Actually, I'm not sure how the email subscriptions work... I'm just grasping straws as my argument comes tumbling down. :(

I guess when I say I'm looking for a "podcast," what I'm looking for is regularly produced audio or video that is published over the Internet, not just an RSS feed with a media enclosure. If there isn't a term for that, someone ought to coin one so I can say "I'm looking for a good ________ about horse racing" and people know I'm looking for a regular show, not just an RSS feed.

[WyethDigital]

Fair enough...

I guess people who subscribe to a podcast via email would not be getting the real podcast then? Actually, I'm not sure how the email subscriptions work... I'm just grasping straws as my argument comes tumbling down. :(

I guess when I say I'm looking for a "podcast," what I'm looking for is regularly produced audio or video that is published over the Internet, not just an RSS feed with a media enclosure. If there isn't a term for that, someone ought to coin one so I can say "I'm looking for a good ________ about horse racing" and people know I'm looking for a regular show, not just an RSS feed.

While you're trying to figure out your argument, I guess what I'm trying to figure out is why you keep trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Everyone here has given you a good definition. If you want to rely on Wikipedia, that's your own problem - Wikipedia is notoriously unfriendly to podcasters.

Take this for what it's worth: The functioning purpose (screw definitions!) of a podcast is that it is a rich media file that is capable of being delivered automatically (that means downloaded without assistance) via subscription to an RSS 2.0 feed (and if you want to get even more technical, Atom RSS and M-RSS). Getting a link in an email to a new video is not the same thing as being subscribed to a podcast, because the video is not going to be delivered with the email. Check this link (http://www.gruntmedia.com/podgrunt_001_view.html) for a really simple explanation.

So what term do you use? That's ultimately up to you, but please don't use "podcast" unless it actually is one, because that only confuses the issue. Why not call it a "web show," since you have to seek it out on it's website? "Hey, Sarah, I'm looking for a good webshow on horses; know any?"

I'd say that works for me...

Eric

[WyethDigital]

But I'd argue that there's got to be some kind of repeated publishing element or consistency for it to be a podcast. I'd say a regular youtube poster or even someone who just publishes an media clip on his website without the RSS feed is more of a podcaster than say, someone who does one episode, wraps it in an RSS feed, and never publishes again.

It's already been pointed out why YouTube is not a podcast (embedded flv and shockwave files, etc.). And while you make a decent point about frequency, that is not the ultimate way to identify a podcast. Maybe it's a good way to identify a podcaster, or rather, a faded podcaster, but it is not a way to identify the process of what he did.

Along those lines, I don't know of too many people that go out of their way to set up one episode and then leave it. The scenario you describe is more likely a blogger who occasionally posts a media enclosure as part of his blog. In that case, I would call him a blogger, because that is where his efforts lie. But that's subjective and speaks to the motivations of the podcast producer and not the process of the podcast itself.

Eric

[Rasheed]

Of course, there is a much broader term than podcaster. It is called new media content creator. Most audio podcasts are some form of talk radio, either with music or without, which is rather limited. New media is much broader, and may be Internet radio, personal video, Internet cartoons, DVD-only releases, etc., etc.

So rather than restricting yourself to the podcast medium, it is wiser to see yourself as a new media content creator. Then you don't have to wrestle with the term "podcast", if you actually mean new media.

My 2 cents of contribution to this thread.

[stereoradiation]

So rather than restricting yourself to the podcast medium, it is wiser to see yourself as a new media content creator. Then you don't have to wrestle with the term "podcast", if you actually mean new media.

I am not sure that this term you propose is in general use or one that you created. Corporations these days speak of "user generated media," and to some lesser extent "media generators." But there is a breakdown to bloggers, Youtubers, podcasters, vidcasters, etc.

[Rasheed]

That breakdown is artificial. If you're a podcaster and have a show blog, you're also a blogger. You shouldn't restrict yourself to one medium.

[DailySplice]

For the record, you all are right: podcasts are media + rss. i'm just wrong and stubborn.

I do still kind of have an opinion about how I hope the term will evolve. I bet when the term "broadcast" was first coined people attached some technical requirement to the definition. Now if you look it up, the definition is just to send a message to a bunch of people at one time, which could include a guy with a bullhorn.

As a user, I could really care less about the technical means of distribution... if it's rich media produced on a consistent basis from the same source, and I can subscribe to over the Internet, I'd really like to be able to call it a podcast. What if iTunes partnered with YouTube so you could subscribe to YouTube videos in the store, but via a special iTunes-only technology that had nothing to do with XML? Then could I call Daxflame a podcaster, even without an RSS feed?

The reason it's kind of bothering me is I'm building a podcast directory, and I'm starting to imagine what it would be like if I could include the ability to listen to or watch all those things I would like to call "podcasts", like YouTube channels. It's harder because there is no RSS feed and media enclosure, but it can be done if we really put our mind to it. If we do it though, what do we call ourselves? By your arguments we can't call ourselves a "podcast directory" because YouTube videos are not "podcasts."

Maybe I just need to coin a new term... but the best I can come up with is eHyperpodcybermedia-icasts2.0... but I'm not sure if it's catchy enough.

[WyethDigital]

For the record, you all are right: podcasts are media + rss. i'm just wrong and stubborn.

I do still kind of have an opinion about how I hope the term will evolve. I bet when the term "broadcast" was first coined people attached some technical requirement to the definition. Now if you look it up, the definition is just to send a message to a bunch of people at one time, which could include a guy with a bullhorn.
That may be true, but surely you must see that a radio broadcast is technologically different from a television broadcast, which is different from a bullhorn, which is different from a closed circuit broadcast (cable), is different from satellite. They all do similar things based in part on similar concepts, but they are different. For one thing, they're received differently from each other, just as YouTube is received differently from an mp3 or Quicktime podcast file.

As a user, I could really care less about the technical means of distribution... if it's rich media produced on a consistent basis from the same source, and I can subscribe to over the Internet, I'd really like to be able to call it a podcast.
Well, the user can call it what they want, but that doesn't make it so. A radio is not a television, even though they both receive over-the-air signals.
What if iTunes partnered with YouTube so you could subscribe to YouTube videos in the store, but via a special iTunes-only technology that had nothing to do with XML?
Well, just to set the record straight on two things:
1) YouTube is partnered with Apple. You can get YouTube videos on your iPhone/iPod Touch and AppleTV. Of course, they're not downloadable, but you can get them if you have an internet connection.
2) YouTube is also moving to RSS syndication. I don't think people are really sure how that's going to work, though. For instance, they could do what Google Video does and provide a transcoded mp4 file for those that want that, or they could just be handling the RSS like newsreader that links back to the YouTube page and plays an embedded Flash file. Or it could be something completely new.
Then could I call Daxflame a podcaster, even without an RSS feed?
Only if the file is downloadable and portable (there's no DRM or some other technical limitation keeps it from being added to a portable media player). A podcast isn't just about being attached to an RSS feed, it's also about retrieving a file so it can be consumed when and where you want it -- In other words, true time shifting. If you have to go to a website, that kind of defeats the purpose.

The reason it's kind of bothering me is I'm building a podcast directory, and I'm starting to imagine what it would be like if I could include the ability to listen to or watch all those things I would like to call "podcasts", like YouTube channels. It's harder because there is no RSS feed and media enclosure, but it can be done if we really put our mind to it. If we do it though, what do we call ourselves? By your arguments we can't call ourselves a "podcast directory" because YouTube videos are not "podcasts."
It's bothering you because you're trying to shoehorn a narrow technological term around a broad concept, and try as you might, it won't fit. There's a solution to your problem, and that's to stop trying. Why are you so insistent on making "podcast" fit every delivery option? There's no need to. Your concept is a rich media directory which features podcasts, vlogs, audio diaries and more. Why not just say that, or find a brand that says it, instead of hanging your brand on a tech term? FOX is a "broadcast" network but they're brand name doesn't focus on the technology. Take a cue from that.

Eric

[DailySplice]

Thanks Eric, good points. Again... not trying to force my definition on anyone. Just getting my thoughts out there. Thanks for the discussion. :)