The popularity of podcasting has led to an increase in the number of people and organizations who are discovering that podcasting is an effective method for disseminating information. This includes anything from music and comedy programs to chat shows and even podcast news. One of the organizations that is participating in the distribution of a news podcast is CNET. Because CNET is a website that focuses on technology, it made perfect sense for them to fill a need in the market by releasing a podcast that covers news about technology. Recent podcasts from CNET have discussed a variety of subjects, including viruses that target mobile devices, issues with Google's software, China's online censorship and the so-called "Great Firewall of China," and the Federal Trade Commission's campaign against spyware. These reports were disseminated in the form of an audio file known as an mp3 file, which can be downloaded onto a listener's own computer and played again anytime the individual so desires. Even if users may download these files directly from the CNET website, the vast majority of them are now distributed via the use of an RSS file. An RSS file is a very short section of XML code that can be read by certain software and can be downloaded by such software. The user is able to enter the URL of the RSS files that carry the information on the feed using these apps, which are referred to as podcast clients. The feed will automatically download any new episodes that are released and will provide links to the podcast's accompanying audio and video assets.
Podcasting of news is proving to be a lucrative business opportunity for many websites than just CNET. Both the National Public Radio in the United States and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) provide podcasts of certain of its shows. The National Public Radio handles podcasts in a number of various ways depending on the program since its content is produced by a wide range of distinct entities. The podcast of the program "This American Life" is distributed by NPR via the website audible.com. This site enables feed listeners to subscribe to the feed for a modest charge and download the show. On the other hand, the NPR Hourly News program provides listeners with a brief broadcast that is just five minutes long and recaps the news for no cost. The fact that a radio program is being taken by NPR and converted into a file that can be downloaded by the user means that very little information is being lost in the translation.
Because the audio is meant to communicate the complete narrative, listeners to the podcast are able to think of it as nothing more than a TIVO for the radio because the sound is intended to do so. On the other hand, the podcast of the news program Nightline that is produced by ABC is nothing more than the sound track from the broadcast show. One of the complaints that has been leveled against the Nightline podcast is that by only removing the sound from what is intended to be a television program, the listeners are deprived of a significant amount of information. Listeners are unable to correctly identify individuals since they are lacking the visual clues that were meant to be there, and there is no method that makes the conversion of the programs genuinely simple. Because of this factor, a number of news programs have begun transitioning from audio podcasts to video podcasts.
They may get the video information straight from the program that is being aired, reduce the visual resolution in order to reduce the size of the file, and then upload it as a podcast to be distributed on the internet.