ZapZap is a new site built to aggregate channels of podcasts and video in a user-managed podcast episode directory. Although, calling it just a podcast directory does no justice because ZapZap also features digg like qualities where popular episodes are based on the amount of times a user saves an episode to their account. When registering with ZapZap, users are given the ability to “zap” postcasts and videos which will then add them to their “Zaplist”, or in other words, playlist. Everytime a user zaps an episode, ZapZap takes note of it and creates a popular listing of episodes similar to the way Digg works. The one big difference is that ZapZap is a directory and channel aggregator that automatically puts podcasts into the rotation rather then relying on users to submit them.

The main page of ZapZap displays all recently popular episodes, or in other words, episodes that have been added to user Zaplists the most in a specific timeframe. ZapZap also has seperate sections for audio episodes and video episodes where users can filter by category and language as well as an option to view only popular listings. Users can listen to any podcast and watch any video listed on ZapZap without leaving the webite making it easy for anyone to enjoy the episodes whether they have their own podcast player or not. If you listen to a podcast and like it, zap it to your Zaplist so you can listen to it later in the “My Page” section or by syncing it to iTunes or your favorite podcast player.

ZapZap also has a neat feature called AutoZap which can help you keep up to date with your favorite podcast channels. It is basically like subscribing to your favorite channels except it also automatically zaps them to increase the episodes chance of getting on the main page. Simply browse to a channel by going to the Channels section or by selecting the channel name in an individual episode. On the right of the channel page with be a button that says “AutoZap.” Clicking it will add the channels most recent episode to your Zaplist and will zap any new episode that comes in so you wont have to worry about checking back for them. Now I can either use iTunes or a different podcast player to automatically download latest episodes or just browse to the “My Page” section so I can view and listen to the latest episode.

Overall, I like what ZapZap has accomplished and hope it does well. It has turned your average podcast directory into an interactive Digg style site that also provides users a method to manage a playlist of episodes (Zaplist) and sync them to iTunes or other podcast players.

Lasty, If you are a podcaster and want to add your podcasts channel to ZapZap’s directory, you can do so by going to the bottom of any page and selecting, “Add a Channel.”

View ZapZap: Digg Style Podcast and Video Aggregator (via nblog).