Choosing your Software
- What is a podcatcher?
- What does a podcatcher do?
- Do you need special software for podcast listening?
- Choosing a podcatcher
- Popular podcatcher software
- 1. Juice
- 2. iTunes
- 3. jPodder
What is a podcatcher?
A podcatcher, also known as an aggregator, is a piece of software that enables the user to subscribe to a podcast. However, there is a slight difference between a podcatcher and an aggregator.
What does a podcatcher do?
After subscription, the program manages the set of feed URLs added by the user and downloads each new episode at intervals whenever the user is online. If the feed data has substantively changed from when it was checked last, the program determines the location of the most recent item and automatically downloads it to the user’s computer.
If the user is online and the software is activated, the downloading starts. Some podcatchers, such as iTunes, automatically synchronize the files to a connected mp3-player, thus making the newly downloaded episodes available on the user’s portable media player. The downloaded episodes can then be played, replayed and archived, just as any other file.
Do you need special software for podcast listening?
Not necessarily. Many podcasts and directories can be listened to as streaming media; directly from the site. You only need the podcatcher software if you want to download podcasts to copy them onto your portable player.
Choosing a podcatcher
Before deciding which podcatcher is right for you, please take the following things in consideration. Not every point might be applicable to your situation, but it's better to choose beforehand, instead of ending up converting your entire podcast-library to another program.
- Considerations:
- Is it free software?
- On what Operating System(s) do you want to use the software, and does the Podcatcher support your OS(s)?
- What ‘search’ features are supported? Can podcast directories be queried, can a websearch be performed, are local directories searchable?
- Does the podcatcher synchronize my portable mp3-player? (Or: can it automatically put new episodes on my player, when it's connected to my computer?)
- Can interrupted downloads be resumed?
- Is the software well supported? I.e., is there a support forum, or an extensive helpfile?
Popular podcatcher software
For your convenience we have selected three popular podcatchers you can use for selecting and downloading your podcasts, with a short enumeration of its features.
1. Juice (Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux):
- is free software
- is Open Source (licensed under the GPL)
- supports more than 15 languages
- supports multiple media players
- Juice's primary purpose is to manage podcasts
- built-in directory with thousands of listed podcast feeds
- Juice has auto cleanup, authentication, centralized feed management and much more
- Juice is accessible for blind and visually impaired users (Windows version only)
- synchronizes with iTunes, but not to directly to iPod
2. iTunes (Windows and Mac OS/X):
- is free software, but not Open Source
- support multiple languages
- has a very large built-in directory with thousands of listed podcasts
- sync to iPod and iTunes
- built-in user manual
3. jPodder (Windows and Linux):
- is free
- is Open Source
- is available in the English and Dutch language
- synchronizes with iTunes and Mediaplayer
- built-in directory
- built in user manual
Check our Links section for a full overview of available software.