A podcast is simply an audio recording in digital format which can be listened to online or downloaded from the Internet and played back on variety of devices such as a computer, portable MP3 player, Ipod or even a mobile phone. They can also be burned onto CD and listened to in the car or on a home stereo/CD player.

According to Wikipedia the term podcasting is a portmanteau of the words 'iPod' and 'broadcast (see full article on Wikipedia).

A true podcast uses RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, both mean the same thing). RSS feeds are used for automatically delivering live content which is constantly changing and updated automatically to your computer; eg, news stories, weblogs (an online journal or diary that is frequently updated - also referred to as a blog) and radio programs.

Many sites which host podcasts also have RSS feeds which enable you to subscribe to new content (usually free). By subscribing you will automatically receive the latest broadcast - probably the most famous one is ITunes where you can subscribe to thousands of podcasts from one place and either listen to them on your PC using ITunes software or download them to your I-Pod.

A typical example of a podcast that is regularly changing is a radio show, an example of this is the Archers on BBC radio. By subscribing to the podcast you can automatically receive the latest episodes. Currently (Feb 08) the BBC offer over 150 radio series which can be downloaded.

Don't worry if you do not have an I-Pod or want to use ITunes software, there are plenty of sites and software resources which do similar things. Some of these can be found in the useful links section at the end of this pack.