Podcasting Is On The Rise

When Robert Walch started podcasting in December 2004, it was a pastime embraced by only the hardest core of geeks. ``It was the lunatic fringe,'' Walch recalls. ``That was before early adopters.''

Skip ahead two years. One of roughly eight baby boomers heading into their golden years has downloaded a podcast, according to a new survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project released Wednesday. These streams of audio, and increasingly video, can be downloaded directly from a Web page or subscribed to via software like Apple's iTunes.

``We are at a crossroads of a major transition in the way media content is delivered,'' said Mary Madden, a senior research analyst who worked on the Pew survey.

The survey, done in August and including 2,928 adults, found there had been a significant increase in listening to podcasts earlier this year.

I love podcasts. I download Audio ones to listen to while I am at work and video ones for when I'm at home.

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