symbol
this means that you can get access to a podcast, that is, a set of audio files which are regularly
created and broadcast over the internet. In general RSS is a way for you to receive
updates to any kind of content, such as news, blogs or podcasts, without having to go to the content producers
web site each time.
For example the people behind "Learn French with daily podcasts" provide a free daily MP3 on the French language. You don't have to go to their site each time to pick up their MP3, you can subscribe using "podcatcher" software which will download the MP3 to your machine when a new podcast is available.
If you click on the RSS symbol your web browser may provide you with a nicely formatted access to the podcasts, or you might just see a bunch of coded text.
An example of a podcatcher and an easy way to access the podcasts is Apple's free iTunes software. Click here to download and install their software. To subscribe to a podcast first click on the RSS symbol next to the podcast you are interested in and copy the address from the address bar (e.g. http://feeds.feedburner.com/LearnFrenchWithDailyfrenchpod). Open iTunes and click on the Advanced menu option and select the "Subscribe to Podcast..." option. Now you can paste the copied address into the URL area.