How to get Podcasts

Image via Wikipedia

For those of you waiting for me to post more on my favorite subject of Podcasts, I have finally found the time!  Once I have explained what a Podcast is, the next question is about how to access said Podcast, and as most of us of the Web 2.0 era know, translating the now automatic task of downloading, organizing and listening to the Podcast medium is not as easy as it sounds.

Eyes of the listener can start to glaze over at the mention of downloading, RSS and even MP3 Players.  As good as the penetration of the iPod is, there The truth is that many of us of the online generation don't know all of the in's and out's of this new emerging Podcast Medium. So I thought that I might delve into the subject and find some useful resources, and info for the newbie and curious alike.

iTunes

Now I know that iTunes uses a lot of the stuff (RSS feeds) that I'll be talking about later, but for the iPod user, and maybe someone just looking to watch or listen to Podcast on their computer, iTunes can offer one of the best user experiences for listening and accessing Podcasts.  iTunes offers good searching for Podcasts and an easy way to subscribe and automatically download when a new episode comes out.

This is done through the the iTunes store, here are some example steps:

1. 
   
   Download iTunes from Apple, if you haven't already.


2. 
   
   Start iTunes and click on "iTunes Store" on the left hand bar.


3. 
   
   If you want to browse a list of Podcasts, choose "Podcasts" from the small "iTunes Store" menu window.  Or if you have something in mind, you can type it into the search bar at the top right of the iTunes window.


4. 
   
   Searching can be fun, as there is a lot of Podcasts nowadays, but once you have found what you might be looking for, just hit the "Subscribe" button attached to it.  This will add the Podcast to your iTunes, start downloading the latest episode, and set up the subscription so that when a new episode is available iTunes will grab it for you (provided that you run iTunes regularly)


5. 
   
   If you go to the website of a Podcast that is in iTunes, they may have a link to iTunes on the page.  Again, if you click the link it will open iTunes and set up the subscription for you, saving you the search part of the above.

Juice, the cross-platform podcast receiver

What else is there?  You may be asking this question if you don't have a iPod, or you're a Windows user and don't like iTunes.  As good as the iTunes user experience is, it is designed with the iPod in mind, so if you are using another mp3 player, you may be better off using Juice.

Juice is basically a Podcast down loader which can help to organize and download your Podcasts, and then set them up in the player of your choice, even iTunes.  It also has a sizable directory of popular Podcasts so finding new stuff is quite easy.  You can also set up subscriptions by adding the URL for the RSS feed for the Podcast you want, and have Juice automatically grab the new episodes as they come along.

I found that iTunes was still an easier program to work with, and would probably still suggest it, even for Windows users.

Jason Remnant

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