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On 31 mar 2007, at 13.38, andy butler wrote: > ps, > do you need iTunes to listen? There are several accurate answers to that question, all covering the area between "yes" and "no" ;-)) A podcast is made up of a RSS document posted to an online server. In this RSS code different tags tell if this is an enhanced podcast, with the option to include links and pictures in synchronization to the music (like a Power Point show), or if it's an old type of podcast that simply transmits an audio file together with text documentation. The RSS document also include links to the audio files that are to be transmitted. These audio files can be MP3 compressed or AAC compressed. For an enhanced podcast it has to be AAC for the picture sync to work. These files typically have end with m4a, m4b or m4p. I'm not completely sure, but I think they need iTunes to play back. Anyone else know for sure? Normally the URL of the RSS document, that runs the show, is submitted to Apple's iTunes Music Store so it can be searchable. As usual, the problem with Apple is that they don't allow anyone to look behind curtains, so there is no way to get statistics for downloads. Another company, http://www.feedburner.com, offers a free service of setting up a kind of "hi-jack route link" between the index RSS document and iTMS. At least that's how I have understood how they achieve what they're doing. If you go with Feedburner you get the statistics, but at the same time you give up yet another level of control. It's really a jungle out there ;-) Greetings from Sweden Per Boysen www.boysen.se (Swedish) www.looproom.com (international) http://tinyurl.com/fauvm (podcast) http://tinyurl.com/2kek7h (CC donationware music releases)