Now there is a new way to interface with the dynamic content on the auSoA website: Podcasting. Podcasts are audio broadcasts created and stored digitally on the Internet. Instead of being broadcast over the airwaves once and lost, like with traditional radio, podcasts are created to be stored and played at the user’s convenience. Think of them sort of as radio shows waiting to be downloaded.

Each new post on the auSoA website has its own podcast created when it is saved; so it is instantly ready for download. To listen to a specific podcast, simply click on the podcast link in the head or footer of the post, depending on which view you are in. You probably already have a media player on your computer that can play the podcast, but if you don’t you should be prompted to download one.

You can also grab the most recent 15 auSoA podcasts at one time by using a “Media Aggregator” in conjunction with podcasts. A media aggregator is simply an application that allows you to select and download audio files from a wide variety of sources on the Internet to your desktop, much like an RSS aggregator . In fact, the podcast link for auSoA actually uses an RSS feed that has links to the appropriate mp3 files. A good aggregator will allow you schedule these downloads when it is convenient and also automatically copy them to your iPod or other mp3 player for playback later. There are many good media aggregators out there; I highly recommend “Juice” (formerly iPodder). It works on Windows, Macintosh and Unix, and is completely free and open-source developed.

To subscribe to the auSoA podcast link, simply go to the home page, scroll down in the sidebar to the “Feeds” section and click on the “Podcast” link. This will open a new window from which you can copy and paste the URI from the address bar into your media aggregator. Now you can automatically download the most recent auSoA posts to your mp3 player, set it to play at 7am in the morning using its alarm feature, and awake to the soothing wisdom of school head Bruce Lindsey. Neat!

Interested in creating your own podcasts? A great place to start is with this step-by-step tutorial at engadget.com