What is Podcasting and How Does it Work?

New to the term podcast? There are many users who are wondering as to what is a podcast and how dose it work? To explain you in simple terms, a podcast is all of your favorite shows, blogs, and topics combined together in a recording. These recordings, can be later downloaded, explored, and listened to as per your own convenience. You can listen to a podcast at work, in the car, working out, at home, and anywhere. This trend was originally started by Apple as Apple Podcasts. This article will talk more about what is a podcast and how do they work.

Part 1. What Is Podcasting?

What is a podcast definition? What is the purpose of a podcast? A podcast is a digital audio file that users can listen to or download over the web. It is the new era's substitution to radio. While the podcasting industry is varying and wide and limited only by the imagination of the creator, the huge majority of podcasts can be divided down into the following categories:

Conversational Podcasts

Many of these episodes are interview podcasts, which are discussions between the guests and the hosts. They normally discuss about the personal history or expert knowledge of the guest on a certain topic.

Narrative Nonfiction

Narrative nonfiction includes anything that covers a topic or true event in a narrative manner. These podcasts run the gambit from topic-based and lyrical human stories such as This American Life, to the true-crime ever-popular podcast such as S-Town, to understand mysteries such as Wind of Change.

Scripted Fiction

Scripted podcasts are increasing in popularity too. Scripted fiction comes in episodic nature and you can hear to them every week and wait for a new episode.

Repurposed Content

Many content creators convert their content into podcasts. For example, users can listen to the highlights of their late-night favorite comedy central program on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah: Ears Edition.

In addition to this, podcasts can also be divided into audio and video podcast. What is a video podcast and an audio podcast? Well, users can either watch or listen to a podcasts. And hence the categorization. Since, podcasts are majorly popular for being listened to, having a video podcast seems to make less sense now. But this is not the case. People are searching for what is a podcast video and are now more and more inclining towards video podcasts. Audio and video podcasts can be further categorized into above four sections.

Part 2. How Does Podcasts Work?

How does podcast work? What equipment is needed for a podcast? Every podcast is a series developed by a host and then posted episode-by-episode online. Listeners or subscribers can then listen to or download each episode when it is launched.

What equipment is needed to start a podcast? Anybody with basic podcast equipment such as recording software, a microphone, and a membership to a hosting platform can make their own podcast. Monetizing these podcasts is also turning out to be a reliable method to make either a full-time or a side income, thanks to affiliate marketing, brand sponsorships, paid content, and subscriptions.

Part 3. How to Listen to Podcasts?

You need a podcast app like like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher to listen to podcast. Now, what is a podcast app? Well, a podcast functions like an on-demand radio show. Users can listen it on a podcast app (where podcasts are hosted) or subscribe to online podcasts with the help of an RSS feed.

Subscribers are alerted every time a new podcast is available. Most smartphones, including Android and iPhones phones, will come with a built-in media player, which enables users to stream or download podcast episodes or subscribe to podcasts.

Bonus Tip. Download and Listen Spotify Podcasts without Premium

Podcast hosting platforms are subscription-based. Users need to shell out money in order to access them. Spotify is also one of them. But, what if you can download your favorite podcasts from Spotify without shelling a penny on subscriptions. You heard it right! HitPaw Video Converter can help you download your favorite podcasts from Spotify without Premium subscription. Follow the below steps to know how to use this tool.

• Step 1.Begin by downloading, installing, and launching HitPaw Video Converter on your device. On the main home page, select Spotify Music from the Add Files drop down list.

  

• Step 2.Next, drag the podcast from Spotify to begin the conversion. You can also copy-paste the link to the podcast in the search bar.

  

• Step 3.After entering the link, the tool will analyze it from Spotify. You can see all the podcasts on the screen once the analysis is done. Select the files and select the output format for all the podcast in the Convert all to option.

  

• Step 4.Tap the Convert All option to rip podcasts from Spotify with batch conversion in one go.

  

Frequently Asked Questions about Podcasts?

Conclusion

With that being said, we just had a look at what podcasts are and how they work. We also saw that users can easily download their favourite podcasts from Spotify without a premium account with the help of HitPaw Video Converter.