The term 'podcast' has been declared Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

The official term, to be added to the online version of the dictionary during the next update early next year, is defined as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player".

The word is derived from a combination of "broadcasting" and "iPod".

According to a recent Pew Internet and American Life Project survey "Podcasts" are catching on with people who own iPods or other digital-music players. Twenty-nine percent of U.S. adults who own MP3 players like Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod say they have downloaded podcast programs from the Internet. In Pew's poll, 11 percent of respondents said they owned an MP3 player, putting the total U.S. ownership at 22 million. Of those with MP3 players, 29 percent reported listening to a podcast. Pew said the survey has a 7.5 percent margin of error.

A Podcast consists of high resolution MP3 or other audio files wrapped in a RSS feed, RSS or really simple scripting is widely used on the web as a means to create news feeds or product updates that can be read bybrowsers and other websites. Podcasts have grown in prominence along with Weblogs, the online diaries that serve as alternative news sources reports LordPercy.

The term was coined by journalist Ben Hammersley and although originally derived from combining "broadcasting" and "iPod", this definition has become something of a misnomer as podcasts can be listened to on any digital music player reports BBC.

Some have criticised the term for giving too much credit to Apple, which had little to do with the development of the technology and some have tried to suggest alternative terms such as blogcasting or audioblogging.