Podcasts are a very interesting medium that has strongly emerged over the last few years. There are many benefits to the technology, as special interest demand on the Internet has skyrocketed. Even if a podcast has only a few subscribers, it is usually profitable as podcasts are very inexpensive to produce. This benefits the provider with profits, while the audience benefits by having their interests met.
Certain topics of podcasts are subscribed to more often than others, many of these being popular figures and characters in our popular culture. Podcasts are used for everything including news, sports, television programs, business, comedy, education, government, music, science, and culture. With the emergence of Web 2.0, more and more people are directly accessing the information they want rather than sitting in front of a television and viewing what they're given. This is what gives podcasting limitless opportunities.
Personally, I do not regularly listen to any podcasts, although I can't really pinpoint a reason as to why not. Time is a large factor, as a web developer, I spend large amounts of time in front of a computer screen for my job and school work. When I do get some free time, I usually relax and watch a few recorded DVR episodes (DVR is quite comparable to podcasting in the sense of user control), get some exercise, or just relax with friends. I'm not exactly aching to spend that free time listening/watching podcasts on the Internet. Perhaps if podcasting made the jump to television (even though there's hardly any difference between the viewing experience), where they could be accessed from something similar to a DVR menu, I would feel more inclined to watch them.
I also feel that the name "podcast" has kept the technology from being completely accepted by our culture. While it's probably much too late to change it, I feel that many adults not of the Internet generation don't really know what a podcast is. When a technology has a potentially confusing name, it only deters people from using it.
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Yes, the name "podcast" totally confused me for a long time. I wasn't sure if they required an i-pod, or really what they were. I just didn't understand the concept because there have been things like "webisodes" which are comparable to podcasts. The iTunes store has definitely done a great job at compiling the podcasts and made them easy to find, but people (especially older folks) are probably unwilling to explore them because they have no real idea what they are or how they are different from other downloads.
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