AfterDawn: News

The word "Podcast" has been named "word of the year" by the New Oxford American Dictionary. It has been defined as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player". The word came from combining "broadcast" with "iPod". It will be included in the online dictionary early next year. Podcasts are growing in popularity at huge rates as they are fast and easy way to get digital audio content.

Some people criticize the word because it gives too much credibility to Apple's iPod, even though Apple had really nothing major to do with the development of the "technology" although it did boost its popularity by including podcasts in iTunes. Some people have suggested other terms such as Blogcasts or Audioblogging. Anybody with a PC, microphone, recording software and a net connection can easily make and distribute their own podcasts.



Its popularity has gotten to a point where it is beginning to challenge conventional radio's broadcasting and business model. Many radio stations have responded by offering their content as MP3 downloads as well, like the BBC for example. "Podcast was considered for inclusion last year, but we found that not enough people were using it, or were even familiar with the concept," said Erin McKean, editor-in-chief of the New Oxford American Dictionary.

Other terms that were brought up but didn't make it were lifehack (which means a more efficient way of completing an everyday task), rootkit (which are tools used to cloak malicious software) and blogging. Surprisingly, two other general terms didn't make it either, bird flu and sudoku.

Source:
BBC News

Written by: James Delahunty @ 7 Dec 2005 11:04