Podcast How-To
What is a podcast?
Basic answer: An internet show that you can subscribe to and your computer will download automatically.
This means you can not view a podcast using just your web browser. You need another program that can read a podcast feed. These programs are called feed readers, or pod-catchers. You need to tell the program what feed you want to read, then it checks the feed every so often to see if there is anything new. If there is a new file, it gets downloaded automatically, maybe while you are at work or watching TV. You can then put the file on your iPod, play it on your computer, or even burn it to CD and listen in our car.
Instructions:
There is more than one way to subscribe to a podcast, but here I will describe the most straightforward way to subscribe to my podcast, as an example.
1. Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes, 5.0 or above. You can get this free from Apple at http://itunes.com.
2. Open iTunes and goto the Advanced menu. Select Subscribe to Podcast.
If you do not have this option, then return to step 1.
3. Paste the following link into the box:
http://blog.desandies.com/feed/
then click OK.
4. Leave iTunes on for a while and let it download the latest episode. You may want to go into your preferences and tell iTunes to download all the episodes, not just the latest, if you want to see previous episodes.
That’s it. Now you can just open iTunes and let it download my stuff in the background. When it is done, you will see a blue ball next to my listing in the Podcast section. That means there is new stuff to play.
I encourage you to go through the Music Store and pick out some more podcasts to listen to. There are a lot of great shows, all of which are better than mine and many of which I highly recommend.
For more info:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/
http://podcastalley.com
http://podcastpickle.com
http://podshow.com
http://odeo.com
Enjoy!