We started publishing info about podcasting in 2004. Since them some things have changed and many things have stayed the same. Sadly going into 2020 I still find professional podcasters struggling to explain to people what podcasts are and how to get them.
Podcasting is simply recorded audio and sometime video shows. It's like someone recorded 30 days worth of morning radio shows and put them on the web. What makes "podcasting" cool, is that you can have an app that automatically downloads new shows into your device. It's that simple.
Back in the day people subscribed to podcasts with their computer and it auto=synced new shows to their ipod - and this is where the name came from. Vary few people have an ipod these days, and many don't know what they are. Basically it's a music play, plus a little more. Kind of like an iphone, which the ability to make calls or connect via cell towers. They could only connect via wifi or when plugged into a computer.
For the most part media players have been replaced by the all-on-one smart phone. These days of needing to plugin into your computer to sync your songs and such are over for the most part. Most people in the world can get updates without a computer, just walking around and having their phone connect to cell towers, apps on your phone can do all the syncing in the background.
I hear a lot of radio commercials talk about, get our podcast at google play, apple podcast, stitcher, westwood one, our web site, or wherever you get your podasts.
I think part of this big confusion is how Apple locks down apps and the ability to sync things, you need to get something approved to run through their store to do most anything. I also blame how bad the google play store is in filtering apps to show people when they search.
All you need is a basic RSS reader app to start pulling in podcasts and other great resources. Trouble is, that it's not easy to tell people which reader app to get and how to use it, since they all seem to vary.
Basically you get an RSS reader, or a podcast listening app, and you copy the url and paste it in there. There may be some settings like 'check for new stuff every day, or every 5 minutes, or only download when I'm on wifi (so not to burn through your data plan if it's not unlimited). Some of the readers show you thumbnail images of the new stuff they find, some show a text list.
I like the free rss readers available in the F-droip app store. Simple. No extra ads. Of course if you've never added anything from the FDroid app store you need tell your phone that it's okay to install, aka side-load an app from a non google play portal.
Some people want to keep it really simple. Go to the app store, search for podcast app, or RSS reader. Try out a couple of them. Then when you are surfing the web in your web browser, look for the cool RSS icon or other thing that says 'podcast here' - long press to copy that url (eg http: www.favoriteSite.com/podcasts/ - then switch over to your podcast / rss app and paste it in there.
Some podcast apps let you search for new podcasts inside the app and come with suggestions. Some have lots of ads and are a drain. Some have unique features like tap to skip 30 seconds, tap to skip 1 minute. This helps to skip over intros and commercials.
In some ways it's like getting new audio books delivered automatically, without having to check the web sites of your favorite places - the app acts like a checker bot that does that for you, and snatches them to your device so you can listen later.
This is a great option to get new content you can listen to later when you are commuting, or waiting in line somewhere. If you system has already synced and downloaded new content, then you can listen to the casts wherever you are, even if you don't have a cell connection or wifi - it's already downloaded to your device. No loss of audio going through tunnels or airplane mode!
We are currently developing several new podcast shows. We are looking for other people to partner with for interviews, production, advertising and more.
Keep an eye out, and subscribe to our blog feed RSS (http://www.globaladvancedmedia.com/weblog/feed/) to get new info about our upcoming podcasts! There will be a couple focused on news and in depth issues. Along with interviews and new things science and such. Our main news podcast will be extra-light on politics (won't that be a breath of fresh air!)
Blast from the past, our podcast list page here circa 2009