A podcast is a collection of digital audio episodes that listeners can access through the Internet on smartphones, computers, laptops, or other devices for streaming or downloading. Unlike earlier live radio broadcasts, podcasts can be edited, with audio and music recorded in various segments and connected together to form an episode. As a digital audio medium, podcasts are produced about a variety of topics: news, education, culture, sports, media, lifestyle content, politics, etc. Podcasts are produced by a broad range of creators from individuals, to companies, to institutions, and are easy to create with a basic level of hardware and technical acumen. There are a variety of tools to create podcasts and creators can publish a podcast on a variety of media platforms such as Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Podcasts are an increasingly popular method of communication and can be produced to meet a multitude of content needs.
Anchor: Anchor is a podcast application from Spotify that allows users to record/edit audio and host the podcast within an accessible dashboard with no software download required. Anchor includes monetization options and allows users to distribute their podcasts easily to other platforms after initial publication on Spotify. Anchor is a free resource designed for podcasting beginners.
Audacity: Audacity is a free open-source, multi-track audio software editor that can be downloaded to a computer/laptop. With Audacity you can record multi-track audio, import audio files, edit, and include effects. Audacity gives a user a greater degree of control and nuance in creating a podcast episode but requires some practice. Audacity is an excellent software to record and edit podcasts for a more advanced user.
RSS feed: RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. An RSS feed is an XML file from a website publisher that includes a constantly updated list of content. RSS feeds are useful when publishing podcasts because RSS feeds contains episode information and allows a creator to transmit updated episodes to other websites. An RSS feed can be simply created in Anchor and shared to other websites.
MP3 file: Common audio file type of audio saved in compressed format.
WAV file: Audio file type associated with PCs.