Podcasting primer: Another perk for iPod people

[MacBytes]

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Category: Tunes
Link: Podcasting primer: Another perk for iPod people (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20050620102722)

Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)
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[feakbeak]

Podcasting seems to be getting more and more attention these days. I'm sure it will really be in the spotlight once iTunes 4.9 is released.

I do not like the article's headlline though. Many articles I have read about podcasting associate it directly with the iPod which doesn't make sense to me. Although podcasting obtained its name from the popular player that most of us know and love, you can enjoy podcasting with any digital music player or none at all!

I'm sure Apple is loving this direct association though - many people probably think, "I want to check out what all this 'podcasting' hype is about, I need to buy an iPod."

BTW, I made a dumb account for this site feel free to use it as I will probably never go back there. BugMeNot didn't seem to work for some reason.

Username: no.spam@gmail.com
Password: nospam1

[SiliconAddict]

Posted for those who don't want to dink with a username password:




Podcasting primer: Another perk for iPod people

BY JULIO OJEDA-ZAPATA
Pioneer Press (boooo!!)

You may have heard of podcasting, but you don't know much about it. Not to worry. It only takes a few minutes to get up to speed.

What in heck is a podcast? A podcast is basically a radio show — with music, news or commentary — but it isn't broadcast over the airwaves. Instead, it is "podcast" or distributed via the Internet in the form of a digital sound file (an MP3 file, typically). Once downloaded, that file can be played on computers or transferred to portable music players such as Apple Computer's popular iPods.

Podcasting has been dubbed "TiVo for radio" because it lets you enjoy shows on your own schedule instead of a station's schedule, as you would with a TiVo digital video recorder hooked up to your TV.

Podcasting also has been called " 'Wayne's World' for radio" because such shows are largely the work of amateurs whose work can be a bit rough around the edges — which, for many, is part of the appeal.

Are podcasts hard to find? Not really. Online directories now list thousands of podcasts in a range of genres, such as technology, news, politics, religion, arts/entertainment and local/regional. Such directories include Podcast Networks (www.podcast.net), iPodderX (www.ipodderx. com/directory) and Podcast Alley (www. podcastalley.com).

For Minnesota-flavored podcasts, try PodcastMN (www.podcastmn.com). For well-known public-radio programs that are available in podcast form, see PublicRadioFeeds.com (www.todmaffin.com/feeds/index.php). For technology-themed podcasts, go to TechPodcasts.com (www.techpodcasts.com).

Finding podcasts looks to get even easier when Apple Computer begins offering its own podcast directory as part of its popular iTunes Music Store (accessible via its iTunes music-jukebox program for Windows and Macintosh). That's coming soon. Monitor www.apple.com/itunes for developments.

Great! How do I get started? Once you find podcasts you like, go to their Web home pages (such as www.insidepersonaltech.com) and begin listening to recent shows. Do that by either clicking a show link to "stream" the audio over the Internet, or by right-clicking the link — Mac users would Ctrl-click using their keyboards and one-button mice — to download the sound file.

Once the file is transferred to your computer, double-click it to start playing the audio in Windows Media Player, the QuickTime player or similar software (which should already be installed on your machine).

Can I automate this process? That's easily accomplished with a "podcast receiver" program that keeps tabs on all your favorite podcast sources and grabs new episodes as they are made available. Such podcast-downloading software includes the original, trendsetting iPodder app for Windows and Macintosh (http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php), the iPodderX variant for Mac (www.ipodderx.com) and NetNewsWire 2.0 for Mac (www.ranchero.com/netnewswire) along with Doppler (www.dopplerradio.net), Nimiq (www.nimiq.nl) and FeedDemon (http://www. bradsoft.com/feeddemon), all for Windows.

Some programs are free, some require payment after a trial period, and at least one, iPodderX, is offered in "full" and "light" versions.

With each of these programs, you "subscribe" to your favorite podcasts. Procedures vary slightly from program to program and podcast to podcast. Here's how you would do it with iPodder and Inside Personal Tech:

Go to www.insidepersonaltech.com and click the "our podcast feed" link. This will take you to another page. Copy that page's address.
Switch to iPodder. Click the "Subscriptions" tab, then click the green button with the "+" symbol. Paste in the address you copied earlier.
Inside Personal Tech will appear in the Subscriptions window. Now, click the upper-left green button to check for the latest IPT episodes.
Go get the shows in your iPodder-download folder, which should be in My Documents on a Windows PC or your home folder in Mac OS X.


What about my portable player? Here's where things get interesting. Podcast-receiver software, when properly configured, can transfer podcasts to music-jukebox programs such as iTunes or Microsoft's Windows Media Player.

The receivers will even create podcast-related playlists in the jukebox apps. And since those programs are used to keep computers and portable music players synchronized, getting your just-downloaded podcasts to your handheld device is straightforward.

Apple, as we mentioned, will further simplify this process by letting users find podcasts right within iTunes. They will be able to subscribe to a podcast with a mouse click, then download new shows as they become available. The iTunes program syncs with iPods on Macs and PCs, so turning the players into podcast carriers is easy. That's where podcasts got their name, in fact.

How can I get more information?[The Pioneer Press has published several articles on podcasting:
"More than music: 'Podcasting' is the word" (Oct. 19): www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress /9952332.htm
"Tuning in to regional podcasts" (Jan. 18; see related links): www.twincities.com/mld/twin cities/10668799.htm
"Podcasters explore regional potential" (May 7): www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/11585542. htm


Hmm, I'm still a bit confused … We can't provide tech support. But if you e-mail us at jojeda@pioneerpress.com, we'll try to point you in the right direction.

Julio Ojeda-Zapata can be reached at jojeda@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5467. For more personal technology on the Web or via RSS, go to TwinCities. com and click "Business," then "Personal Tech." The Pioneer Press is now iPod-friendly.

We've launched our first podcast, a radio-like show that you can load on a digital music player and listen to anytime.

The show, Inside Personal Tech, teams Pioneer Press tech reporter Julio Ojeda-Zapata with Knight Ridder consumer-technology writers: Mike Langberg of the San Jose Mercury News and Mike Wendland of the Detroit Free Press.

The format is simple: Julio and the Mikes discuss the latest personal-technology products, services and trends for a half-hour. Find it www.twincities.com.

Not sure how it works? See accompanying story for a podcasting primer.

[heaven]

thx for posting it, SiliconAddict !

Can't wait until iTunes 4.9 ! Bring it on :cool:

[nagromme]

This will be huge for iTunes and iPod--Apple's being very smart here, and it only helps users/podcasters, too!

The growth of podcasting only helps the portable player market a little bit now, but will affect sales more if it really takes off. Apple has the biggest share of that market, AND the "Pod" association which is free advertising.

Now it will REALLY take off because it will be easy, and built into an app people are already using, iTunes. And synched automatically to your iPod.

I'm one who "always meant to" check out Podcasts and see if I found anything of interest. Never did. With iTunes 4.9 it will take no extra effort from me--not to download, not to synch, and not to search--so I will try Podcasts at last.

A lot of people like me will be trying Podcasts for the first time. Apple has given the phenomenon a huge boost, and they'll be rewarded for it.

[feakbeak]

I'm one who "always meant to" check out Podcasts and see if I found anything of interest. Never did. With iTunes 4.9 it will take no extra effort from me--not to download, not to synch, and not to search--so I will try Podcasts at last.Same here, I was just about to download iPodderX to checkout some podcasts that friends had recommended to me when I heard Steve had mentioned podcast support in 4.9. I figured why get all setup with a third-party app for podcasting when it would be natively supported within iTunes very soon. I'm anxiously awaiting iTunes 4.9.

I would have thought this would make a great 5.0 feature. Apple must have something big up their sleeves for iTunes 5.0 if they are willing to ship podcast support in 4.9.