Podcasting, unlike other media forms, almost never has charges for services, and the vast majority of feed producers distribute free podcasts. This puts at odds with, say, online radio stations, news sites that offer media to subscribers, or the online music industry general.

A growing trend online is podcast video. While podcasting was originally only for audio files, more people are beginning to send video, especially with broadband connections more accessible. To podcast video, content distributors enclose it in a web syndication file that users can download and view when they want.

A podcast feed is a way of sharing files over the internet. It involves the use of a small, machine readable file that is regularily updated to reflect changes in the files available for downloading. The internet addresses of these files are embedded into the feed file and can be automatically downloaded when wished.

A podcast directory is a listing of syndication feeds that link to a podcast. They are often organized by category and topic, and allow the user to find a feed that podcasts about almost anything. Just as search engines help people find sites with the information they need, a podcast directory presents a searchable list of podcasts users can subscribe to.

While some video feeds can be found by visiting the site that hosts them, many more are easier found by visiting a directory of podcast videos. These podcast video directories maintain listings of podcasts that have been submitted to them. They may sort the list according to region, category, and popularity, helping visitors find exactly the type of feed they are looking for.

Many music podcasts are available online, distributed by podcasters who want to share their collection with the world. Some of these are distributed by independent musicians, groups or individuals who enjoy creating and sharing their music but have a small fanbase.

The podcast for This American Life allows listeners to download the the shows and listen to them at their discretion. The This American Life team contracts with a site called audible.com to distribute the shows to listeners who want to hear them. Despite calling their offering a podcast, however, it is not, at least in the normal sense of the word.

Because podcasting is such a new, exciting, cutting edge phenomena, many people are eager to get connected, and hence the Howard Stern podcast.

What is now called a podcast traces its orgins to the first ipod podcasts, the creation of distributed mp3 files that could be downloaded and played on Apple's music player, the iPod. When the iPod came out, and users discovered what a wonderful thing it was for holding music, some people had the idea of loading things that weren't necessarily songs.

Podcast Yahoo, is an example of a very full featured podcast directory. Yahoo's beta offering presents podcasts from many professional organizations including NPR, Slate Magazine, and others. They also organize their listing by categories, offer a list of the most popular series and episodes currently available, and let users search through the entire database.