Web hosting provider SherpaHost.com has made it easier for individuals and businesses to create, publish and broadcast their own audio and video podcasts for direct download or streaming from their websites. SherpaHost's Quick Podcast tool can be used with a personalized domain name or set up as a subdomain.

Podcasting is a method of broadcasting multimedia files, audio or video, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices, such as MP3 players, and personal computers. Subscribers are then able to download and listen to the podcast.

Millions of internet users download and listen to podcasts daily and the number continues to grow exponentially. Researchers at the Diffusion Group estimates that the American podcast audience will grow to 56 million by 2010.

With a SherpaHost Quick Podcast plan, customers will be able to create podcast recordings with their computer and a microphone, manage and publish multiple podcasts by uploading their audio and video files, generate and publish podcast RSS feeds for iTunes and other directories, and automatically notify Podcast Directories, such as iTunes and Yahoo!, when their new podcasts are available. Seasoned experts or podcasting newbies will be able to create, manage, and publish podcasts with ease.

SherpaHost's Quick Podcast plans, which consists of the Economy, Deluxe, and Premium plans, are complete solutions for podcast hosting, management and publication. Customers can choose the type of shows they would like to broadcast, talk or music shows, as well as the frequency and length of shows.

The Create Podcast recording tool offers one-click install capabilities, real-time audio compression, and CD-quality recording (prior to MP3 compression). The Media Management and Storage interface makes it simple to upload and manage MP3 and MP4 audio/video files (m4v, mp4 and mov). The Site Statistics function will provide information on subscriber numbers, average bandwidth, disk space utilization and more. Automatic RSS Generation allows users to generate RSS feeds in minutes. The Podcast Listing Service automatically sends new podcast notifications to a variety of popular listing services like iTunes, Feed Burner, iPodder, and more. The Multiple Podcasts function makes it easier to manage more than one RSS file or mini-Web site. There are multiple customizable templates and themes to choose from in creating unique-looking podcasts. Podcasts can be played directly from a published web page using the On-Site Player. Customers can also publish RSS feeds on their blogs.

SherpaHost.com (www.SherpaHost.com) is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar and web hosting provider, offering a complete product line, including comprehensive hosting solutions, Web site creation tools, Secure SSL certificates, personalized email with spam and anti-phishing filtering, e-commerce tools and more. SherpaHost.com offers competitively-priced products, and delivering them all with world-class 24/7 live customer service.