Why podcasts are so popular
Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 5:15 am
History of podcasts
To understand the history of podcasts, we have to go back almost 20 years to the launch of the first iPod in 2001. Although iPods were not the first portable MP3 players on the market, their launch coincided with that of radio and music streaming platforms like Pandora.
As the iPod gained popularity, people began looking for ways to download radio shows to their devices.
Entrepreneurs Adam Curry and Dave Winer made it possible in 2004. They created a RSS (Really Simple Syndication) software called iPodder that could download Internet radio broadcasts to iPods.
According to Winer, the first proper podcast was an interviewqatar whatsapp number data he recorded with Christopher Lydon (a radio host who hosted Open Source, a radio show that is now a podcast).
The origin of the word “podcast” is also debated, but it appears to have emerged in part from a 2004 article by Ben Hammersley titled “Audible Revolution.” Although the article does not use “podcast,” it suggests three similar terms: audioblogging, podcasting, and guerrilla media.
These terms later changed to “audio blog” and “podcast,” and “podcast” eventually gained popularity (and thousands of Google searches by late 2004).
To understand the history of podcasts, we have to go back almost 20 years to the launch of the first iPod in 2001. Although iPods were not the first portable MP3 players on the market, their launch coincided with that of radio and music streaming platforms like Pandora.
As the iPod gained popularity, people began looking for ways to download radio shows to their devices.
Entrepreneurs Adam Curry and Dave Winer made it possible in 2004. They created a RSS (Really Simple Syndication) software called iPodder that could download Internet radio broadcasts to iPods.
According to Winer, the first proper podcast was an interviewqatar whatsapp number data he recorded with Christopher Lydon (a radio host who hosted Open Source, a radio show that is now a podcast).
The origin of the word “podcast” is also debated, but it appears to have emerged in part from a 2004 article by Ben Hammersley titled “Audible Revolution.” Although the article does not use “podcast,” it suggests three similar terms: audioblogging, podcasting, and guerrilla media.
These terms later changed to “audio blog” and “podcast,” and “podcast” eventually gained popularity (and thousands of Google searches by late 2004).