Some people are confused about what the term “podcast” really means. While it originally involved a reference to Apple’s iPod, the term has expanded to mean much, much more. I heard somewhere that Microsoft was trying to find a way to refer to a “podcast” without calling it a “Pod-cast.” “Blogcast” was the substitute I heard offered. However, that was only a rumor.

I think there’s a better word, still: syndicast. Syndication and broadcast combined. Jason Dunn of PocketPC Thoughts describes several alternative names for podcasts in his article on Microsoft’s site.

The problem with coining a new term and supplanting the old term is difficult. “Podcast” is already a powerful meme. I don’t suspect that it will make much difference proposing it, but I couldn’t keep a clever idea to myself.

And for another perspective, Chris Pirillo says some people think it’s “not important”: “This is Simply Smarter Broadcasting.”

It’s nothing more than Internet radio at its core, folks. It’s audio, on-demand, that’s easily synchronized with your computer system / portable media device…

Podcasting, or syndicated downloadable content, by whatever name, is definitely here to stay.