Yahoo! Podcasts for India

Yahoo has come out with a podcasting service for India, Yahoo! Podcasts.

BY TOMS MATHEW

16th November, 2005: Search engine giant yahoo is making its entry into Indian podcasting market. Podcasting is the general term used for the collection of technologies using which a user can enjoy the selected programs, as a a private radio show on the internet. Radio programs called podcasts have been taking the Net by storm for quite a sometime.

The popularity of podcasts became so large, so that even big sharks like Yahoo and Apple want a piece of glory. So far, Indian podcasts were only a distant dream. But now, Yahoo has come out with Yahoo! Podcasts, with the beta version being released.

With the Yahoo! Podcasts, users can enjoy, hear, subscribe and search radio programs from the Net. The credit for making Yahoo! Podcasts goes to the Bangalore Software Development centre. 

A wide variety of audio programs can be had with the help of Yahoo! Podcasts, with the selection made by the user himself. This is the reason behind the growth of podcasting industry. The main differene between a traditional radio and a podcast is that in a tradtional radio user is forced to hear what the channel transmits wheras in a podcast user is the chooser. So he can choose those programs he wants and can subscribe them if he is interested. Free podcasts are available on the Net as well as there are podcasts which need a fee. 

“As web users increasingly become both consumers and publishers of content, Yahoo! continues to roll out innovative services that bring the power of Yahoo! technology to the users,” Yahoo! Chief Product Officer Geoff Ralston said.

It is expected that on Monday, Yahoo will launch its podcast service, Yahoo! Podcasts through which users will have access to streaming audio and can also access free reviews about various programs.

Yahoo! Podcasts also allow people to search for a particular podcast by searching. The user has to type a keyword of the podcast he wants to hear and he can then find out the intended one.

Apple has an online music store known as iTunes, from which users can hear and buy podcasts. iTunes has made history by capturing the entire podcasting market.

Yahoo! Podcasts also offers subscription to RSS feeds, through which users can subscribe to various programs on the Net.

Yahoo is also planning to offer tools in the future so that users can create their own podcasts.

BY TOMS MATHEW