Podcasting+Glossary

=Glossary=

Below is a condensed list of terms with their meanings that appear in **Absolute Beginner's Guide to Podcasting** by George Colombo, Curtis Franklin Jr. These are terms you should know when producing a podcast.

The amount of data (measured in bits) that's created by one second of audio in an MP3 file. A higher bitrate yields better sound quality but creates larger files.
 * Bitrate**

A not-for-profit organization that offers a flexible, less-restrictive alternative to artists instead of traditional copyright protection mechanisms. Information about the organization and terms of the Creative Commons license can be found at [|creativecommons.org].
 * Creative Commons**

A measure of the difference in loudness as the volume of a signal is adjusted. In general, one decibel is the smallest difference that a listener can perceive while a 10 decibel increase effectively doubles a signal's loudness.
 * Decibel**

Another name for an RSS file. Your podcatching (aggregator) software checks the feed to see if there's new content available on your website.
 * Feed**

Specially formatted information that is attached to an MP3 file. On an audio file that contains a song, the ID3 tag will specify the song's title, the album from which it came, the artist's name, the song's genre, and the year in which it was released. Podcasters use ID3 tags to append information about a podcast to the file in which it's delivered. The results can be less than satisfactory, though, since the ID3 specification was created specifically for information about music, not podcasts.
 * ID3 Tag**

A short audio segment that is repeated multiple times. Loops are the building block of much of the music that's generated with Apple's GarageBand software.
 * Loop**

One of several popular file formats for audio files. MP3 files are the current industry standard for audio files, in general, and podcasts, in particular.
 * MP3**

Music that is made available for use in podcasts by the artists and composers without standard royalty obligations. Artists who provide podsafe music usually do so in return for exposure that isn't available to them through commercial broadcast outlets.
 * Podsafe Music**

The number of times per second that audio software takes a "snapshot" of an analog audio signal as it converts that analog information to a digital format. A higher sample rate (more snapshots per second) provides higher quality digital audio but also results in a larger file.
 * Sample Rate**

Additional information about topics referenced in your podcast that you make available on the Web for your listeners. Most often, this consists of links to websites mentioned in your podcast. Also, show notes often contain links to photos of people, places, or things that were mentioned on your show.
 * Show Notes**

A very short audio clip that identifies you and/or your podcast. Sweepers are often used to segue between segments of your show, especially before or after music.
 * Sweeper**

A discrete segment of recorded audio. While some podcasts consist of a single recorded track, a typical podcast will usually consist of several tracks mixed together. Most recording software will accommodate multiple audio tracks and will allow you to edit each track separately before mixing them together.
 * Track**