Podcast. Will the web have an audio future?

The spread of portable Mp3 player, such as Ipod or its countless clones, has led to an exponential increase in the circulation of digital music through several web sites.

The song list sharing occurs thanks to XML technology that is by means of feeds which list MP3 files instead of news. This Mp3 sharing technique, by joining the terms “Ipod” and “broadcast”, has been named Podcasting. Although the technology was at first oriented to music sharing, we are now under a shower of specialized sites which use Podcasting to spread contents such as interviews or ordinary recorded talks, instead of music. Our attention was chiefly caught by some sites managed by professionals, who took up recording with Skype their discussions and everyday shop talking and to spread them via Podcast technology.

The idea itself may appear quiet trivial and simple, but listening to a few passages of such “chats”, it’s enough to realize that we are witnessing a remarkable experiment which might lead to a radical change not only in the means of news spreading (from text to audio), but in the very essence of information (from carefully studied, arranged and packed concepts to informal chats).

As a matter of fact, by listening to the ordinary talking of a couple of colleagues, we would be able to read (or, better, hear) between the lines, not only the subject of the discussion, but an impressive series of notions, information and “tips” as if we were on a bus with the two of them seating in front of us. Actually, this phenomenon is not likely to replace “official “information: it will simply modify the way those are obtained. We will just have to consult our favourite feed in order to load our MP3 player and listen to it while relaxing on the sofa after work or maybe strolling about the streets.