This is a very interesting search engine that is specifically meant for Podcasting. It is called, Podscope. Instead of searching content, it will actually search for words that are spoken inside of the podcast itself, which I feel is pretty amazing. Say you search for the word, “Podcast.” It will bring back the podcasts that include that keyword.

“Podscope is the first search engine that actually allows you to search for spoken words within any audio or video file. We’re starting with podcasts and will be adding all types of multimedia in coming months.” Okay, so now you are asking your self, how is that possible? Well:

No, I mean how does the technology work?
Well, we could tell you, but then we’d have to… Um, magic.

There you have it. Podscope is possible with the luxury of magic on the Internet. Ah, I love the web. Anyways, lets continue on what is possible. Below is a screenshot of a search result after clicking on the “+” to expand the details.

The part that I like the most is that when a result comes up, you can listen to it right then and there and even read the description of it. It uses a simple Macromedia Flash player and you can select parts of the cast from the list and sample it, like you see in the above screenshot. It also provides a link to the site, podcast, XML, and Play.

Now, just because that you can sample the podcast with the flash player doesn’t mean they are going to stop their. Bring up a result and click on “Play” on the right side of the result. It will then bring you to the website where the podcast exists and on the bottom of the page, using a split frame, will have your media player of choice (Windows Media Player or Quicktime) on the bottom (as you see above). So as you are browsing the site, you have the podcast playing! Very cool. I love it.

View Podscope. Podcast spoken word search.