Enter the world of podcasting! Podcasting is just like having your own radio station, programmed with your favorite items and ready for you to listen anywhere, anytime. With podcasting, you can listen to:

[o] WHAT you want

[o] WHEN you want

[o] WHERE you want

No more searching and hoping to find a radio station that plays your favourite music. No more missing a talk show broadcast because you are sitting in class or in a meeting at the wrong time. With podcasting, you get just the content you want, from the sources you want, when you want. And there are no ads or commercials! What Tivo has done for your TV viewing, podcasting can do for your radio listening, and there is no FCC regulations either!

So what exactly is podcasting? A podcast is an audio file stored on the Internet that you can download to your computer or MP3 player and listen to whenever you want. It might be music, or it could be a talk show, a lecture, a recorded tele-seminar, a sermon, a football game, etc. Podcasting gives you the ultimate in choice and convenience.

o Podcasting is all about… CHOICE

Podcasting offers you unlimited choices in listening. Even though podcasting is a relatively new technology, there are already thousands of podcasts to which you can subscribe. No radio station in your city that plays the indy music you love? Check out East Detroit Radio.

Want to improve the koi pond in your backyard? Subscribe to Koi Club of the Air.

Parenting questions? Try the Front Porch Parenting podcast.

You can find a podcast on literally any subject you are interested in! In fact, www.podcastalley.com currently lists 2,380 podcasts in 15 different categories, while www.ipodder.org lists 4,493.

Another advantage of podcasting is that, because podcasts can appeal to niche audiences, they can cover their topics in much greater depth and be far more informative than regular radio broadcasts, which must appeal to a wide audience. Also, with a podcast, you can back up and listen to a segment again if you missed something the first time. If you come to a segment that is boring, you can fast-forward. You can listen as many times as you want to all or part of the podcast. And you can stop listening all together for a few minutes, hours, or even days if something else comes up.

o Podcasting is all about… CONVENIENCE

MP3 files have been available for download from the internet for years. But what makes podcasting different and truly useful is that you can subscribe to programs you are interested in. This means you don’t have to check your favorite podcast web sites every day for new episodes and manually download them.

Instead, free podcasting software automatically downloads new episodes to your computer as soon as they are available. This makes it easy and convenient for you to stay up-to-date with your favorite podcasts.

Once your podcasts are downloaded to your computer, you can synch them to your MP3 player, burn them to a CD for playback on your CD player, or simply listen to them through your computer’s speakers. This gives you the ultimate convenience of listening to your programs at your leisure. You can listen to the podcasts whenever you want – as you are driving, walking, exercising, knitting, etc. With a podcast, you can be mobile, live your life, and listen to your content ANYWHERE.

o Podcasting is… FREE & EASY

Not only are podcasts themselves generally free, but so is the podcasting software you need! Both podcasts and podcasting software are easy to find on the internet and are easy to use.

Podcasting is… waiting for you!

If you haven’t been exposed to podcasts yet, you soon will be! Podcasts are literally everywhere now, and more podcasts are being created every day.

Unlike radio shows, which are transfered through the air in radio waves, and regulated and controlled by the FCC, there are no regulations or rules for podcasting, as long as you don't use copyprotected property.

A podcast is an audio file stored on the Internet that customers can download to their computers or MP3 players and listen to whenever they want.

Now, you may be thinking, “So what - MP3 files have been available for download from the internet for years!” Well, what makes podcasting different and truly useful as business tool is that customers can subscribe to programs they are interested in. This means that free and easy-to-use podcasting software automatically downloads new podcasts to your customers’ computers as soon as they are available.

Just how big is the potential reach of podcasting? Consider these numbers from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. According to their research:

[o] More than 22 million US adults own an iPod or other MP3 player – 13% of men and 9% of women

[o] 20% of the lucrative 18- to 28-year-old market owns an iPod or other MP3 player

[o] 29% of the people who own an iPod or MP3 player have downloaded a podcast

This translates to 6 million U.S. adults who have downloaded podcasts – a truly impressive figure considering podcasting is still a relatively new technology.

The keys to the early success of podcasting is that it offers great choice and convenience, plus ANYONE can do it with the right tools.

o Offer Your Customers Choice

Podcasts can be about any topic you can think of. They might be music, a talk show, a lecture, a recorded tele-seminar, a sermon, etc. Possible applications for podcasting include:

- Interviewing authors and leaders in your industry, then offering the interviews through a podcast on your website.

- Offering late-breaking industry news.

- Offering in-depth information to niche customers.

- Medical organizations can offer podcasts on such topics as bariatric (weight loss) surgery, diabetes control, glaucoma, alternative medicine, and more.

- Religious organizations can use podcasts to distribute weekly sermons, missionary updates, extol their beliefs and offerings, and otherwise share their message, globally, as long as listeners have an internet connection.

- Preschools and Day Care Centers can offer parenting tips.

- Universities can offer audio lectures, student calendars and orientation, and campus tours.

- Travel agents can offer audio tours of popular cities.

- Chambers of Commerce can introduce potential tourists, conventions, and businesses to their cities.

- Museums and historic sites can offer private guided tours of their facilities.

- Conference presenters can offer podcasts of their sessions for people who were unable to attend the live events and save on postage and fulfillment costs.

- Companies and non-profit organizations can offer training to their employees and volunteers.

o Offer Your Customers Convenience

If you publish or plan to publish any type of audio file for your customers – whether audio newsletters, teleconference calls, interviews, lectures, etc. – podcasting simplifies everything for both you and your customers.

Once customers subscribe to your podcast, you won’t have to worry about sending them an email to download a new MP3.

Instead, your message will land directly on your customers’ desktops every time you create a new podcast.

The convenience continues even after the download. Once the podcasts are downloaded to your customers’ computers, they can synch them to your MP3 player, burn them to a CD, or simply listen to them through their computer speakers. In other words, customers can subscribe to your podcast, download it, and take it with them as they go out jogging or commute to the office.

Best of all, not only are podcasts themselves generally free, but so is most of the podcasting software your customers will need to listen to podcasts!

Both podcasts and podcasting software are easy to find on the internet and are easy to use.