A technology whose development is still in its infancy is sweeping the communications world and could soon be infiltrating a headset near you, says one of Canada's foremost business futurists.

"The first time I saw podcasting I ran out and told my wife that I had just seen the thing that would change radio forever," says Tod Maffin. "And that was just last August."

Podcasting is technology that allows Internet broadcasts to be downloaded onto portable listening devices. It's an amalgam of the words pod and broadcasting, and is a web-based process in which files are made available online so that they are easily detectable by software designed to download them.

In the high-speed connection world of the Internet, the fledgling technology has taken wing more quickly than even a futurist could have reasonably predicted.

Karen Dyer, Business Edge
Self-proclaimed techno-geek Tod Maffin is right at home in the Canadian podcasting world.

According to a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than 29 per cent of the 22 million Americans who own iPods or MP3 music players have downloaded podcasts from one of the vastly burgeoning sites that provide this service on the Net. That means that more than six million adults have tried this new feature.

Maffin is a self-professed techno-geek currently on sabbatical from his job as a national broadcaster and producer at CBC radio. With the help of former MTV disc jockey Adam Curry, he edits and maintains a list of Canadian podcasters on the American-based iPodder site, and is also active in Canadian podcasting. He also operates a number of websites, blogs and generates several of his own podcasts every week.

"Wired magazine came out with an article calling podcasting the end of radio, but I think it's the exact opposite," says Maffin. "I see it has a whole new opportunity for radio."

"It is a delivery mechanism that can give programs on the listeners' time. Imagine you want to hear any story on CBC radio that reflects your special interests. It would just automatically collect that for you so you can just listen to it at your leisure."

While the term podcasting may generate a mental image of fishing with a pea-baited hook, those who regularly troll the Internet know that pods are small auditory segments - aural sacks, if you will - that can be captured by a feed for later listening.

"I believe one of the original developers came up with the name and it just stuck, kind of like 'spam,'" says Maffin.

"But any MP3 player will work with it. It's unfortunately named, because podcasts don't require an iPod to listen to."

Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia likens the process to an audio magazine subscription, in that the subscriber receives regular programs without having to remember to collect them.

Others have described podcasting as an Internet audio equivalent of timeshift-capable digital video recorders such as TiVo. Podcasting most commonly involves audio files in MP3 format, but as the technology grows, other types of files, including video formats, are also being podcasted.

Curry was behind the development of the original scripting program, making his newly written ipodder program Internet-available in August of 2004. The process was further refined by others over the following months.

Initially, the technology was embraced by the web-logging (more commonly known as the blogging) community, as a means to further entice readership, but is now taking off with listeners everywhere.

In Canada, podcasting is being taken up by an ever-increasing number of bloggers, and recently made a further jump to legitimacy when the CBC began podcasting elements of its popular radio science show, Quirks & Quarks.

"The response has been incredible," says Jim Handman, senior producer for the show. "Downloads of MP3 files on our show have been consistent since 2000 when we began offering them, but with the new podcasts we've seen, our download volume has doubled."

Handman believes listeners are hungry for content. "Unfortunately right now, there is a lot of what I call Bill's Basement Radio out there. Public radio is just beginning to experiment with the podcasting concept, but I think the future of radio is in on-demand audio."

Maffin, who is based in Vancouver, was 13 years old when he got his first job at a local radio station.

He has always been fascinated by all things technological, and these days he is a regular on the speaker circuit. In the next month he will embark on a six-week speaking tour that will take him around the globe, primarily speaking with public and private radio networks on the future of radio in an on-demand environment.

The industry is still wet behind the ears, but Maffin sees a clear potential for techno-entrepreneurs.

He promotes a concept he calls vertical listening for radio. Rather than passively listening to the content offered by existing radio (Maffin calls this linear listening), new podcasting technology allows listeners to choose their own content across a number of shows and stations. The available material can be surfed by the software in the users computer.

"I like to use the example of a corporate tax attorney; someone who has a very specific business niche - they have a finite amount of time to listen to content, they are multi-taskers by nature. Imagine if you had a 40-minute daily commute - wouldn't it be great if you could listen to a half-hour show daily specifically on corporate tax law?" The Pew survey was conducted in February and March of this year, and while some more obvious theories as to typical user information were reinforced (ownership of MP3/iPods more likely in younger, more Internet-savvy users) there were a few conclusions that hold potential for commercial use.

More men than women own iPods and MP3 players, and parents with children at home were more than twice as likely to own one of the devices than those without. All of this information can lead potential marketers to a very specific niche customer.

Maffin reports that LoyalEars, a radio industry loyalty rewards company, is planning to launch a program to sell podcasts with a percentage of the profit returned to the originating radio station.

Maffin sees another option where podcasting could be offered as a value-added item.

"An example could be public radio broadcasters in the U.S.," he says. "Listeners who donate more than a certain amount could then be eligible for certain podcast extras."

And the future of podcasting?

"It's just like blogs, really," says Maffin.

"Blogs come and go - there are some blogs out there making good money - some are really lousy. The same will happen with podcasts. But right now you can subscribe to CBC's Quirks & Quarks, and you can tell your podcatching program to download the show only if the subject is biology - it has that level of granularity. That has value to an audience.

"This," he adds, "is what radio has been waiting for."

(Karen Dyer can be reached at karen@businessedge.ca)