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Stanford University has embraced podcasting in a big way. The University where Google's founders hammered out their code has loaded more than 400 audio files into a special portal in the iTunes Music Store, accessible through a page on the University's own website.

Content is available in six major categories, each of which has several subcategories. For example, under "Heard on Campus," you'll find podcasts in the areas of "Interviews and Speeches," "Reunion Homecoming," "Technology Ventures Program," and "The Aurora Forum." Other top-level categories include "Global Issues-Stanford Initiatives," "Music," "Faculty Lectures," "Sports," and "Books and Authors." Files include old recordings. Among the authors, for example, is Wallace Stener, author of "Angle of Repose," who died in 1993.

The site is targeted primarily at alumni, although an access-restricted site for students is also on tap. Some video is available, and the University is planning to expand its content in the months ahead. This new and innovative application of podcasting further solidifies the medium's place in the mix.

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Shel Holtz is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications.

As a professional communicator, Shel also writes the blog a shel of my former self.