SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Yahoo today announced its entry into podcasting with the beta release of Yahoo! Podcasts.
The new Yahoo! Podcasts service lets consumers find, listen to, rate and review online audio programs.
The new service provides access to a variety of audio content from around the world and across the web. Podcast content ranges from sources such as Ebert and Roeper film reviews, National Public Radio and the weekly Presidential address, to lesser known and absolutely unknown, never-heard-of shows – including all kinds of independently published programs like a fantasy sports podcast, Fantasy Focus, and the KnitCast program for knitting enthusiasts.
Podcasting is a growing phenomenon that enables anyone to create and distribute their own series of Internet audio programs or audio blogs (web logs), resulting in a new form of online media that people can listen to whenever and wherever they want.
Yahoo! Podcasts offers community ratings and reviews to help people find podcasts they might like, user tagging for better searching and discoverability, and a comprehensive podcast search. In addition, Yahoo! is providing most popular and highest rated lists, category browsing and editorial picks.
The company plans to add more features to its podcast portal throughout the beta period, including personalized recommendations and easy-to-use publishing tools, which will allow anyone to create and publish their own podcasts.
"As web users increasingly become both consumers and publishers of content, Yahoo! continues to roll out innovative services that bring the power of Yahoo! technology to users," said Geoff Ralston, chief product officer of Yahoo!, in a press release. "Yahoo! Podcasts will help people find the content they want, discover new content, personalize their experience and share feedback. We’re excited to help grow the podcasting community by giving consumers easy access to new and interesting forms of open content, and helping podcast publishers reach a broader audience."
Yahoo! Podcasts can be found at http://podcasts.yahoo.com and on Yahoo! Next at http://next.yahoo.com.
