So a podcast with an ATOM feed isn't a podcast? It needs a feed, sure, but not necessarily RSS.

That depends on the service or app. Some accept both, and some only take RSS. Apple Podcasts used to accept Atom feeds, but they don't anymore for new podcasts. All the feeds

Edit: do you know any podcasts that use an atom feed? None of the 80 feeds in my podcast app are atom feeds.

The underlying protocol is an implementation detail.

I don't know any atom feed podcasts (and can't find any), but I can find references to people using (or trying to use) atom for podcasts.

I've been casual into podcasting and listening to the developers create Podcasting 2.0 and I haven't heard anyone talking about atom feeds. I think podcasting has firmly settled on rss.

> The underlying protocol is an implementation detail.

So you are saying you could do HTML without TCP/IP? Would that work you think?