From the technical viewpoint …
podcasting is communication based on the language of new media. Podcasts are not bound by the limitations of transmitting time, television spaces, cable-bound computers, or copyright-protected CDs. A podcast consists of regular broadcasts of audio contributions or films – which are also known as “episodes” – which can subscribed to on the internet and are usually free of charge to the receiver. Because servers and receiver equipment can communicate with each other through RSS technology, the receiver does not need to worry about downloading. The latest podcast episodes can be accessed automatically. The reception and playing devices for a podcast are all that is necessary, these platforms can communicate among themselves and digital information can operate independently through such devices: e.g., mobile phones, Mp3 players, desktop computers, laptops, television sets, car radios, etc.

For the user…
podcasting means receiving access to our content without limiting one’s freedom of movement. Podcasts overcome any restrictions of use. They adapt themselves to the individual needs of the receiver. I can take podcasts with me. I play them whenever I feel like it, wherever I wish and as often as I like. I can forward them to friends, accommodate them to my web page, or take them with me on trips. Podcasting lets communicated content stay as mobile as its receivers.

For the sender…
podcasts have the advantage of being able to be played on many different devices, to be as mobile as their users, and to be capable of being freely passed on. Since podcasts are subscribed to in their first form of transaction, they illustrate the values and interests of their users. Since the user can play them at his/her convenience, (s)he is able to watch and listen to them more attentively. In their second form of transaction, podcasts are socially spread around. Social dispersion has a communicative advantage, because the content is directly communicated and thus not anonymous, being passed on between friends and peers. When someone passes on my podcast, they are thereby communicating their own values, knowledge, and interests. Podcasts can then act as tools of distinction, they can mediate that for which one stands and that by which one is moved.