What is a podcast?

Podcasts are like short radio shows. Publisher of a podcast, namely podcaster, periodically records the show and makes it available in MP3 or in any other media format so that his listeners, that is you, can download and listen to it whenever you want.

For example, you can listen to NPR or BBC radio news thru their designated podcasts. Note that podcasts are not only in audio, you can also find podcasts publishing video content.

Ziepod is a software application for Windows machines. It is used for subscribing to podcasts and maintaining content published thru those subscribed podcasts. Ziepod periodically checks subscribed podcasts for updates and notifies you when new content is available. Then, without having to use any other application but only Ziepod, you can directly play published audio or video content or download and place it into your portable media player, such as iPod.

There are both freeware and shareware versions of Ziepod. Ziepod+ is the shareware version of Ziepod with additional features, like video support and has $19.95 price tag with 20-day trial period.

1. Managing podcasts should be as easy as managing emails

Since most people are familiar with email clients, managing retrieved content from podcasts should be as easy as using an email client. Most of the podcatchers on the market, including iTunes, do not support that kind of support, which affects the learning curve of new users negatively and eventually reduces the user experience.

2. Automation and customization together should help you save time

One of the primary goals of any software application is to help you save time by automating certain actions. However providing only automation does not help much unless you have the power to customize each automation. This way, user can adjust automation based on his needs and save more time.

3. Managing not only podcasts but also local media files

Considering the features of Ziepod to manage and process retrieved content, such as auto ID3 tag overwriting rules, managing local media files not only gives you fast access to your local media files thru Ziepod but also allows you to use provided features on those local files. This way, Ziepod can be seen as more complete substitute for iTunes.

4. Supporting MP3 players other than iPod

While iPod might be at the top of all, there are many other types of portable media players out here. Ziepod should be able to work with any of them. However, latest Ziepod release is only compatible with iPod. We are looking forward to adding more support for other portable media players and inform our users about how to use Ziepod with their players. After all, starting motivation behind podcatchers is to make transfering of podcasts to the players easy.

5. Ziepod in all languages

The fact that only those people that speaks English can make use of Ziepod is not fair in any way. Hence, Ziepod should be available in as much language as possible so that every person on Earth can experience it.

6. Providing unique user experience

The most important factor in the user experience is maybe the user interface. More user friendly and familiar user interface helps users get used to the application faster. Being able to provide that kind of familiar experience is not easy when trying to put some special touch. We should design each component carefully and cleverly in order to make it easy-to-use and appealing at the same time.

To learn more about this project, please check following links

Ziepod Project WebSite

Ziepod Blog

Ziepod Online Help