OK, I have a confession. I am not up with the times when it comes to all the fanaticism surrounding MP3 players. I have an old Creative Labs Nomad player and I use it sometimes in the car, but the IPOD has really captured the market. I was up in New York City recently and was suprised at the number of people walking the streets with headphones on, listening to MP3 players. But, I have heard a term being thrown around and that is podcasting. I had no idea what it was and therefore I looked it up on Wikipedia. I thought I would pass it on for those in the same boat:

“Podcasting is a way of publishing sound files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new audio files automatically. Podcasting is distinct from other types of audio content delivery because it uses the RSS 2.0 protocol. This technique has enabled many producers to create self-published, syndicated radio shows.
Users subscribe to podcasts using “podcatching” software (also called “aggregator” software) which periodically checks for and downloads new content. It can then sync the content to the user’s portable music player, hence the portmanteau of Apple’s “iPod” and “broadcasting”. Podcasting does not require an iPod; any digital audio player or computer with the appropriate software can play podcasts.”
Ref: Wikipedia

I think this is an excellent way to make the link between MP3 players and the internet, and make these popular devices good for something other than simple music playback.

That said, now you know.