Michael Braun's Blog

For those of you up on your technology more than I am, you probably already know about Podcasts. But for many of us, our first real introduction to this new and exciting technology came on Tuesday when Apple released iTunes 4.9 with Podcast support built in through the iTunes Music Store.

What is a Podcast? A Podcast is basically an internet radio program available for download. Their simplicity makes it an extremely accessible communication format for many people. Most Podcasts are not produced professionally and thus maintain a standard of independence and innovation. Podcasts also tend to be very small files for their time length making them very easy to use on even a simple mp3 player like the iPod Shuffle. Today I loaded 4 hours of content onto my Shuffle and did not even fill up 100 mb.

An exciting feature of iTunes newly added support for Podcasts is the ability to add your own to their listed 3000 (and growing) Podcasts from all over. This means any person with a computer and the ability to record voice can begin producing radio content that will then be available for millions to hear.

As a shameless self-promoter, I naturally started thinking how I could abuse this technology for my own personal gains. NO. Just kidding. Rather, it took me back to one fateful high school day when, for whatever reason, Tony and I found ourselves in the teacher’s lounge acting out a hilarious imporvised skit of a talkshow entitled, “Tony and Michael Talk About America.” Featuring random guests passing in the hallway and outrageous banter between the two of us, the show was a hit – until the school secretary yelled at us because we were being too noisy (though not for being in the teacher’s lounge, interestingly enough).

And so with this emerging technology of Podcasts, it got me thinking. Could this be the chance to bring back an incredibly successful, albeit short-lived, program? Could Tony and I finally claim the national fame we are destined for? Could this be another pointless project with which to fill my time? We will just have to wait and see.