Podcast Listening
In this section you learn how to start listening to podcasts in just a few quick steps.
- Download the software
- Browse for podcasts in the podcast directories
- Listen, then subscribe
- Listen to your podcast on your favourite player
Welcome to the Quickstart Guide to Podcast Listening!
It's listening to shows you specifically selected from thousands to choose from. You listen to those shows when you want, and as many times as you want. And new episodes of your shows are automatically downloaded, ready to listen to when it's convenient for you! It's all for free!
1 - Download the software
First you will need software that enables you to subscribe to podcasts. These programs are called "podcatchers".
Examples of free podcatchers:
- iTunes (Win and OS/X)
- Juice (Win, OS/X and Linux)
- Podnova (online web-based)
Make sure you have enough free harddiskspace to both install the software, and to store the podcasts you will be subscribing to. (A couple of Gigabytes will do.)
Installed? You just finished the first step!
2 - Browse for podcasts in the podcast directories
The next step is to find podcasts you want to listen to.
Like using a phonebook to search for telephone numbers, podcast listeners use podcast directories to search for podcasts.
You just finished step 2: time to start listening!
3 - Listen, then subscribe
Now, you want to listen to a podcast. For this you can go to the podcast directory of your podcatcher. When you found another podcast which isn’t in your podcatcher directory, you can copie the URL by clicking on the particular podcastlink and paste it into your podcatcher.
Now you can listen to the podcast by clicking on it.
If you want more of the same podcasts you just listened to, it is time to subscribe.
Subscribing to a show enables you to automatically download the most recent episodes of a show. (And saves you the hassle to check for updates manually on the websites of your favourite shows.) Using free software like Apple iTunes, Juice or Yahoo! Music Engine you can subscribe to podcasts
In your podcatcher you have got the option to ‘subscribe’. Now the podcatcher is catching the podcasts you have subscribed to and shows these.
A more detailed description with examples can be found in the Quickstart guide iTunes and Juice.
4 - Listen to your podcast on your favourite player
-Audio players on the computer-
You can listen to your downloaded podcast episodes by clicking on the mp3-file. Double clicking on one of those links should start playing the selected episode, automatically activating the mp3-payer on your computer.
-Portable audio players-
iPod
The iPod and the iTunes software work seamlessly together!
If you indicate in iTunes you want your podcasts to be put on your iPod, new episodes will be automatically put onto your iPod every time you connect it to your computer. (Check "Preferences", "iPod" in iTunes for details.)
other mp3-players
If your mp3-player shows on your computer as just another diskdrive, you can drag-and-drop your podcasts from the podcast-directory onto the mp3-player.