sermon
What is "podcasting,"
and
what is "RSS"?
Podcasts are the combination of two things, really, audio files and RSS.
What is podcasting?
Where radio has "broadcasting," the internet has "podcasting." Radio stations create programs that are sent out over the airwaves; internet providers create programs that are made available on the internet. Brewster Baptist has a weekly "program," or "podcast" - the sermon!
Folks from various parts of the world come to this web site to get the audio file of the weekly sermon.
That's the "pod" part... the "casting" part brings us to RSS.
What is RSS?
Suppose you didn't want to come to the web site to check if the sermon was available. Perhaps you're in a part of the world where internet access isn't easy, or perhaps you're on vacation. Whatever your reason, it would be really nice if someone would tell you when the Brewster Baptist audio file was ready.
RSS (also known as Really Simple Syndication) is a method by which you can receive notifications about content that has been made available on the internet.
How does it work?
When the sermon is available, the webmaster puts a file (called the "RSS feed") on the website. Our feed is here.
Meanwhile, you have software that you've told to "watch for updates to the RSS file on the BBC website." This is called "subscribing to an RSS feed." Once each week that software, ever vigilant, will find a new "program" listed for Brewster Baptist, and you'll see a notification in that software.
Where do you get that software? The most popular web browsers have the ability to "read" RSS feeds. Serious RSS-feed-watchers can get free software designed specifically for that purpose, and some software will automatically download the podcast for you.
Many people put podcasts onto portable devices so they can listen while traveling, or exercising, or sitting in really long, boring meetings (just kidding, no one would do that, would they?).
Would you like to learn more? You can find information on podcasts in this article, and information on RSS in this article.