America Online testing podcasts searching

America Online testing podcasts searching

The podcasts mania has caught on with the America Online as the company is developing a podcast searching application on their website. They have announced plans to add this search option by fall this year. AOL would be adding on a podcast “search and discovery” feature through a new version of the WinAmp music player which they also owns. Their would be another search option which would be developed through their recent acquisition TVEyes.

The podcast search engine technology from TVEyes would be integrated into the regular AOL Search Engine. This would enable them to offer a lot more podcasts to the web users through spoken-word indexing. AOL’s main podcasting feature, called Podcasting 101 would include podcasts from FM station KCRW, “This Week in Tech,” “Sports Bloggers Live,” “Reel Reviews,” as well as feeds from the BBC, CNN and other sources.

They also plan to add on additional content from AOL Music, Moviefone, AOL Coaches and KOL (kids), and RED (teens) in the coming months. Bill Wilson, senior vice president of programming at AOL said in a statement about their upcoming plans: “Over the next few months, we will be expanding our podcast experience with more exclusive and original programming–from AOL and from partners–and adding more advanced search options.”

What are Podcasts? (Via Wikipedia)
Podcasting is a method of publishing audio broadcasts via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s). It became popular in late 2004, largely due to automatic downloading of audio onto portable players or personal computers. Podcasting is distinct from other types of online media delivery because of its subscription model, which uses a feed (such as RSS or Atom) to deliver an enclosed file. Podcasting enables independent producers to create self-published, syndicated “radio shows,” and gives broadcast radio programs a new distribution method.