Podcast! Podcast! Podcast!

Friends, film geeks, vegetables... Lend me your ears!

No, seriously, I need your ears.

SMART-POPCORN.com is diversifying, expanding into a whole new medium, and taking a step that should hopefully put us ahead of the curve. We're creating a podcast. For those of you scratching your heads and asking, "Whaaat," let me answer a few questions:

• What is a podcast?
  
  A podcast is a lot like an Internet radio show, only it's pre-recorded (not live) and downloadable (not streaming). Once you download a podcast, you can listen to it whenever and as many times as you want.
  
• How do I download & listen to a podcast?
  
  Downloading a podcast is as simple as downloading an MP3 file. We'll provide standalone links for each episode, and you can simply right-click and 'Save As' to save the file to disk.
  
  You can also subscribe to podcasts, which make them infinitely cooler. You'll need iTunes or podcast software like iPodder or a feedreader capable of handling podcasts.
  
• Do I need to own an iPod to listen to these "pod" casts?
  
  Not at all. The term "podcast" is just the latest example of a brand name (iPod)seeping into the common lexicon. You can listen to podcasts directly on your computer (as I do), burn them to CD, or sync them to an MP3 player just as you would a music MP3. (If you wish to sync to a non-iPod MP3 player, you should try using iPodder or something similar. iTunes itself will only officially sync up with iPods.)

Now that we're all on the same page, let's talk about the SMART-POPcast. Why are we doing this?

Consider it manifest destiny, if you will. The Internet is a big place, but it's getting crowded--especially among movie critics. Doing a search for "movie reviews" on Google returns over 116 million results. Needless to say, that's a lot. Doing the same search within the iTunes podcast directory returns about twenty results. So you see, podcasting is one of the final frontiers of the Internet.

But we're not just on a ravenous quest for more traffic. We want to be taken seriously, and podcasting gives us a means to quite literally speak up and say, "Hey, we're serious." Plus, believe it or not, it's fun.

So anyhow, here's what we've got so far:

Subscribe via iTunes
If you've got iTunes installed on your computer, just click on this link and you'll be taken to our podcast page in the iTunes Music Store. Click 'Subscribe' and you're signed up. (High Quality MP3, 64kbps)

Subscribe via RSS
Just copy or drag this link into your favorite podcast software or feedreeder. (High Quality MP3, 64kbps)

Subscribe via Atom
Copy or drag this link into any Atom-enabled podcast software or feedreader. (High Quality MP3, 64kbps; Torrents Coming Soon)

Listen to us on MySpace Music
Ok, so it's not exactly music. Still, if you are a fan of MySpace, this may be a convenient approach for you. Add us to your friends list, too! (Steaming/Downloadable, Low Quality MP3, 24-32kbps)

Download the Standalone Files
(High Quality MP3, 64kbps)
Episode 001 - Episode 002

Additional episodes will be posted in the new "Podcast" section of the website:

SMART-POPCORN.com/podcast/

Other future plans:

Enhanced AAC Podcast - iTunes and iPods have the special ability to break up enhanced podcasts into multiple chapters, each with their own associated images and links. Enhanced podcasts will enable us to display our one-of-a-kind SMART-POPCORN.com Review Grids and Average Grids.

BitTorrent Downloads - Peer-to-peer downloads will get to you faster and save us bandwidth.

Oh... We've also opened up a new forum dedicated to the Podcast discussion. Feel free to poke your head in if you've got comments about the latest episode, any suggestions for the future, or if you'd like to contribute in any way.