Really Simple Syndication (RSS) Podcasting – Setting the Standard for Quality Podcasts
Michalis 'BIG Mike' Kotzakolios


Defined Tag: Rss Podcasting.

Really Simple Syndication, or RSS Podcasting is one of the primary ways in which podcasters distribute their podcasts. It was primarily used by news websites and blogs as a way of syndicating data prior to the invention of podcasts. In the year 2000 however, one of the original developers of RSS decided to make RSS podcasting a possibility. The first RSS based podcast was created in early 2001 and by 2003 RSS podcasting had become the standard way in which podcasts were distributed. What an RSS feed does is attach a headline or title from a news site, blog or podcast to another website, where a visitor can click on the link and be transported to the page containing the full article or podcast. RSS podcasting allows users to subscribe to the podcast so they are able to receive updates to their favorite podcast as soon as the update is released. Subscriptions to podcasts using RSS methods are primarily linked using the small orange buttons labeled “RSS.”

When subscribing to podcasting, a user will need to use an RSS aggregator. These aggregators are programs which allow RSS data from syndicated web sources to be transferred over to a user’s computer. Such aggregators are usually built into web browsers and require no external software. In the world of podcasting, the aggregators are modified or associated with other programs to form podcatchers, or programs that have the ability to transfer the RSS data of a podcast to media players like iTunes, Winamp and Windows Media Player or to external devices like an iPod. iTunes stands as the best known and powerful of all podcatchers, and can easily organize any amount of RSS podcasts a user chooses to subscribe to.

While RSS podcasting originally was restricted only to audio podcasts, recent technological advances have allowed for video podcasts to benefit from the power of RSS feeds. Much like with audio podcasting, video podcasting is transferred to a media player, but one which can also play videos. Once again, iTunes is the most widely used program to aggregate such video podcast feeds into one place.

BIG Mike is a well known author, developer and Adsense expert as well as the owner of Niche Maniacs - a unique Adsense Marketing System designed to build long-term passive income streams from Adsense, YPN, Chitika and other PPC services.