Podcasting has been around since 2004, with the term being coined that year. A podcast is a series of digital media files, such as audio or video, released episodically and downloaded through web syndication. Podcasts can be subscribed to, listened to online, or downloaded as mp3 files. They offer benefits like being accessible anywhere and at any time without schedules, and have disadvantages like requiring an internet connection and not being usable by deaf users.