About NPS: The technical stuff

What is a podcast? A podcast is digital audio or video content that is compressed for delivery over a network, via free subscription. Once subscribed to, podcasts are distributed over the Internet or your internal network. They are accessed on a desktop computer, laptop or a portable player such as an iPod. What is RSS? RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a format for delivering regularly changing internet-based content. Many news-related sites, blogs, podcasts, and other online publishers syndicate their content as an “RSS Feed” to whomever wants it. How does RSS work? RSS works behind the scenes allowing users to easily stay informed by automatically retrieving the latest content from websites containing information you are interested in. Users save time by not having to visit each site individually to get the latest news. RSS does the work for you!

RSS utilizes a Reader or Aggregator. ITunes, Google Reader, and Yahoo Reader are the most popular “podcatchers” in use today. You and your customers can easily download these and many others aggregators for free. They work on either the Windows PC or Mac platforms. Try It Now It’s time to test how this easy process works. Here is a link to an existing podcast subscription page currently residing on the website of a National Podcasting System client. Now playing: Macy’s Podcast You’ll see buttons that will allow you to subscribe to a podcast. Simply select one of the podcatcher options shown (iTunes, Google Reader, My Yahoo, or AOL Reader). If your computer doesn’t currently have a podcatcher , simply select one of the option buttons shown on the page and you’ll be prompted to download the free aggregator program.