A podcast is a series of media and/or video files which can be downloaded to a portable player, to a podcast software or to an online service offering podcast support.

Subscribing to a podcast enables the user to automatically load new episodes of a podcast to their computer or portable media device.

In order to listen to or view podcasts, you need a so-called "podcatcher", which enables you to download, subscribe and play back podcasts.

There are various podcatching solutions, such as:

• Podcast software (such as "iTunes" or "Zune") which enables you to either load podcasts to your portable player or watch or listen to them on your computer.

• Mobile devices, which support downloading, subscribing and playback of podcasts directly from the internet (to watch video podcasts, you need a mobile device offering video functionality).

• Online services supporting the integration of podcast to a personalised home page (such as e.g. "myAOL").