#21-Podcasts, Smodcasts!

I am familiar with podcasts. I use ITunes and have even downloaded some podcasts-from Sunday sermons I want to hear again to information about Biltmore Estate we used when vacationing over the summer. I had did notice that you could subscribe to podcasts, but I thought, "Why?" at the time. Now I am understanding why. If you followed something you were really interested in, you could be notified when changes or updates are made through your RSS aggregator. What I like about ITunes is that the podcast is ready for you to download to your IPod the next time you get on. I did use Podcastalley.com to find and subscribe to podcasts in my Bloglines account. It was easy to use, but it would tie you to the computer in order to listen to or watch the actual podcast. I found a podcast on book reviews and subscribed. I think it is only updated monthly and I'm not sure how many books are reviewed at this point. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but with a little more searching, I'm sure I could find something that was a better fit. Thinking about how this could be used in a library setting is a little tougher. I guess you could set up an aggregator with a variety of subjects for your patrons, and search and subscribe to podcasts that would be helpful and informative to them. I would be interested in looking at examples of how more creative people have used this technology in a library setting. I took a quick look at how to create a podcast. I don't have time to do this right now, with the holidays looming, but I do plan on going back and looking at this some more. Wouldn't that be something if I could create my own podcast!