Podcasting is different from broadcasting and
webcasting in that it "casts" audio not by a
mechanism of centrally pushing audio out to
listeners, but by the mechanism of the
(distributed) listeners pulling (downloading) the
audio files automatically. Podcasters publish
(or "podcast") audio files, even in the likeness
of radio shows, but it is the individual listener
who initiates the "cast" through their
subscription and automatic download of the audio
program.
Podcasting also utilizes the combination of audio
files and RSS to publish descriptive data and
metadata associated with the audio. RSS files
used in podcasting include dates, titles,
descriptions, and links to audio files. These
links to audio files within RSS, which are used
by podcasting applications, are defined by the
enclosure elements in RSS 2.0 and RSS 1.0 (RDF),
and all of the original podcasting proper
applications were built to work with RSS 2.0.