Personalized audio on your media player

Rick Ellis at NBC13.com: 'Podcasting' Brings Personalized Audio Programs To Your Media Player. New Software Allows Users To Easily Subscribe To Audio Programs.

[A] new idea has sprung up in recent months that promises to change the way listeners view radio in much the same way that Napster changed the landscape of the music business and Tivo altered the viewing habits of millions of TV owners.

"Podcasting" is a term that is probably unfamiliar to most people, but it represents a real potential change in the radio landscape. A small group of enthusiasts has begun cobbling together a way to easily share homemade radio shows, eventually allowing people to reach large numbers of listeners by completely bypassing the current structure of radio.

Here is the non-technical explanation:

Podcasting allows you to subscribe to feeds, which include links to audio programs. Every time one of your subscriptions posted a new program, it would automatically download onto your computer. You could then transfer those shows to a portable music device, listen to it throughout your house via a wireless connection and take it with you wherever you go. Think of it as a personalized radio station that you program and change whenever you want.