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Everywhere you look, people young and old are walking, jogging, biking and even driving while sporting headphones. Mp3 players are the new must-have accessories, and Apple is leading the way in obtaining, playing, storing and sharing digital music files through iPod hardware and podcasting.

The origins of podcasting can be traced to the initial creation and distribution of mp3 files. These music files could be downloaded and played on the iPod, Apple's music player. When the iPod was first released, users quickly discovered what a wonderful way it was to store music, and some came out, and users discovered what a wonderful thing it was for holding music. Then, people began to think that other files, beside music, could be loaded onto their iPods. Some people used reverse engineering on iPod, loading different firmware, or operating systems. Others believed that it was possible to share small sound files that could be played on the iPod.

RSS feeds already supplied the technology needed to distribute the files. RSS provide a means of generating machine-readable files that could share information between a server and a user. Many blogs already used RSS feeds to keep readers up to date with the latest posts, and some hopeful podcasters aspired to enclose links to sound files within the RSS feed, making it possible to download the music files to the computer.

These changes in RSS feeds allowed iPod podcasting to take off, and it has become a popular way to share files. Some podcasters have become radio DJs while sharing their favorite tunes. All sorts of different Podcasts began to pop up. Software was written to automatically check RSS feeds, extract the links to the podcast episodes, and download the files. These software programs became known as podcast clients.

By this time, podcasting had moved beyond the ipod. Users were not only making iPod podcasts anymore. Some PSP users discovered how to utilize their PlayStation Portable consoles as podcast players. It was more difficult than downloading podcasts to the ipod, since the PSP uses a different file format, but more PSP podcasts began to appear. In addition, podcasting became known to an immense audience of people without iPods, who simply saw this as an extremely convenient way to receive news, entertainment and music over the Internet.

While iPod podcasts still exist, fewer people subscribe to them as a means of gaining portable media files they can listen to anywhere. It has been eclipsed by the ease with which podcasting has become a content delivery system. Podcasting has become tied up with the rising number of audio and video blogs, where blogging is done through media files uploaded to the blog, rather than by post. These blogs take advantage of the shrinking cost of broadband Internet connections, and the rising number of people with high-speed access.

An activity that began as file sharing between a few clever Apple iPod users has become an entertainment and information revolution. Blogs and podcasters across the globe are open to a world of possibilities.