If you stumbled onto this website and have yet to hear the term "Podcast", let us take a moment to explain. Simply put, a podcast is a blog with a voice. A person, or in The Cubicle Escape Pod's case many people, record their thoughts, opinions and insights and disperse it to the masses. Anyone with a computer is a potential podcast producer as well as a podcast listener.

In the most basic case, the voice is recorded into a computer with a microphone. The resulting file is converted and compressed to an MP3 file format. The distribution tool is RSS, a subscription-based feed that allows listeners to receive your podcast whenever you post it on your website. RSS is analogous to a newspaper delivered to your doorstep throughout the day with only information you are interested in. However, you could just post your podcast to your website and allow listeners to download it the old fashion way.

However, producing The Cubicle Escape Pod is a bit more complicated. Jon calls me on our Skype line. The entire conversation is recorded on one computer, then outsourced to another computer for production. On this second computer, Jon has some pretty elaborate recording software that allows him to check audio levels and edit and insert sound clips. Since Jon is a perfectionist, this entire process takes about 1-2 hours to produce after we record the show. All in all, one show from preparation to your ear probably takes around 4-5 hours. Oh, and by the way, Jon has been around this production process all of his life because his Old Man owns a recording studio.

Depending on whom you talk to, the "Father of Podcasting" is Adam Curry, who released his first podcast in August 2004. The term "podcast" is credited to Dannie J. Gregoire, who used the term in September 2004. Though the audio file can be played on any MP3 player, the term "Podcast" is due to Apple's iPod market share (at the time of this article BBC reports 65%). Since then, Reuters’ estimated that 29% of all people who own MP3 players have downloaded at least one Podcast. With the increase demand of customized content and the allure of becoming a radio personality, there is no reason to believe this number will not go up. However, as any trend must endure, corporate America will be getting involved with Podcasting eventually and the promise of this new technology could be saturated with product placement.

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