I was testing the new design of www.dictionary.com and of course I browsed for the words podcast and podcasting. While podcast resulted in 0 results, podcasting did have 1 result.
1 result for: podcasting
Webster’s New Millenniumâ„¢ Dictionary of English
Main Entry: podcasting
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: the Web-based broadcast of music which works with software that automatically detects new files and is accessed by subscription
Etymology: 2004; iPod + broadcasting
So what are the problems I have with this?
- Is podcsting really a noun? “I am podcasting” is a verb to me. “I record a podcast” could be a noun as could “I am a podcaster”.
- Why the use of podcasting and not podcast? That’s like adding walking to the dictionary but not walk.
- The definition… I don’t even know where to start. Music is obviously not required to be a podcast. There is no mention of RSS which is fairly integral in the delivery. The landscape of podcasting is changing where software is not always needed (because lots of people are listening to shows ONLY online).
- Finally, the etymology. While I agree that the iPod helped with the growth of podcasting as a medium, it is not solely responsible for its formation. Stupid as it may sound, I do think more that PODcasting stands more for Portable On Demand than it does any reference to the iPod itself because 90% of the shows I listen to never see my iPod.
More on this later Im Sure. Leave your comments and check out the Dictionary.com Page Here.