I-tunes and podcasting!

I- Tunes is a digital media player application, introduced by the Apple Company for playing and organizing digital music and video files. This program is also an interface to manage the contents on the I-pod as well as the I-phone. I-pods can connect to the iTunes Store via the internet to purchase and download digital music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audio books and various podcasts. The application also allows the user to manage audio and video files on a personal computer and on your i-pod.

Even though the main purpose of the I-tunes is to manage the audio files of an i-pod, users do not need to own an I-pod to use I-tunes.

iTunes also supports podcasting were it allows users to subscribe to podcasts predominantly for free in the iTunes Music Store or by entering the RSS feed or URL. Once subscribed, the podcast will be downloaded automatically.
Users can choose to update podcasts weekly, daily, hourly, or manually. Podcasting's initial appeal was to allow individuals to distribute their own radio-like shows, but the system quickly became used in a wide variety of other ways, including distribution of school lessons, official and unofficial audio tours of museums, conference meeting alerts and updates, and by police departments to distribute public safety messages ect. Podcasting is becoming increasingly popular in education. Podcasts enable students and teachers to share information with anyone at any time. An absent student can download the podcast of the recorded lesson. It can be a tool for teachers or administrators to communicate curriculum, assignments and other information with parents and the community.

Podcasting could rage across iPod communities and change the way that people view media the same way that blogs have raged across the internet and changed the way that media is received and perceived.