"Mike Terry" wrote in message
...
By Karen Haslam

Podcasting - the Web's latest fad - has the potential to revolutionize
the
content of traditional radio as well as reshape our listening habits,
according to The Christian Science Monitor.

Technology futurist and producer at Canada's CBC radio Tod Maffin
said:
"Podcasting is a radical way of looking at radio."

Podcasts are expected to become as diverse and niche-oriented as
online
blogs. For example, people will be able to subscribe to downloads that
provide news from the stock market or updates on developments in a
particular industry. Podcasts can be stored in iTunes and played on
iPods or
any MP3 players at the listeners convenience.

Podcast software iPodder co-developer Adam Curry said: "I venture
there's
about 33 million MP3 players out there, and after Christmas when
everyone
has their new cell phone, there's another 600 million cell phones that
have
MP3 capability - and they have a network connection."

Curry believes that these developments will challenge the dominance of
terrestrial radio, writes The Christian Science Monitor.

Maffin agrees that podcasting will shake up radio - but in a good way.
"The
download medium provides stations with a new outlet for their shows.
If the
content is good enough, stations may even be able to charge consumers
for
downloading individual shows, just as some listeners now pay a premium
for
satellite radio."

According to the report the future of podcasting is niche radio.

Author of Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in
America
Jesse Walker said: "On terrestrial or satellite radio, one can tune
into a
dozen formats or maybe even five dozen formats. But with podcasting,
everybody is a format of one.

"Podcasting is just making it easier for this new set of niche
listeners and
this new set of producers to find each other."

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index...ge=1&pagePos=8



iPods and MP3 players are boring and are distractions from proper life.
Regards Mike.

--
The best thing about Christmas is when it's over.



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