I had a conversation recently with a few friends about "podcasts". As someone who has spent some time creating online video content and is interested in online video distribute, I've come to dislike the word. This spite is similar to writers who are called "bloggers" by the mainstream media. Both terms carry a weight that dismisses the creators as amateurs, hobbyists who have no credibility when compared to the mainstream media. While in some cases this may be true, it is painting with a broad brush.
The term "podcasting" reached the mainstream following
an article published in The Guardian by Ben Hammersley. In his article, Hammersley explains that the rise of the iPod and MP3 players fosters a new era of amateur broadcasting - "pod-casting", get it?
Apple eventually integrated a podcast section into iTunes, allowing users to subscribe to a show and have it automatically download onto their iPod upon release. For several years, if you wanted your podcast to be successful, you needed it to be on iTunes.
