Podcasting Education 2nd Edition

Podcasting Education 2nd Edition – Here is an update to my original post Podcasting Education. The original was written after I found out some of my friends had iPods but hadn’t discovered podcasting yet. I’m posting this second edition as an update to the original. I found out more of my friends are either getting iPods (Danny), other mp3 players such as an iRiver, or are just tired of me talking about podcasting and want to check out some podcasts using their existing media players such as Windows Media Player. Finally, I have also added instructions for those of you who want to use iTunes to pick, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast - this gives a great definition of what podcasting is.


2. http://www.ipodder.org/ - click on the download ipodder link to download the ipodder program. You can set this program up to automatically download new podcasts and send them to iTunes or Windows Media Player. There are many other aggregators out there, but this one is free and very easy to use and understand.


3. http://www.podcastalley.com/index.php - Podcast Alley is probably the best place to do some research into different podcasts. It is also the place where everyone goes to vote for their favorite podcast(s), and where the podcasters go to see who is rated the best. When you start listening to podcasts you will hear most of them ask you to go to Podcast Alley to vote for them.

I highly recommend getting your podcasts using an aggregator other than iTunes. From my experience iTunes doesn’t update the shows fast enough and has a lot of problems. I prefer to get the shows as soon as they are available. Also I’m just not a big fan of the amount of commercialized podcasts that iTunes has on the main page, or the way they have categorized the podcasts within their music store. That’s just my opinion. If you prefer to use iTunes I have included directions at the bottom of this post.

Here is a list of some of my favorite Podcasts:

1. The Dawn and Drew Show


2. 5 Minutes with Wichita


3. Geek News Central


4. Podcast 411


5. Earthcore


6. The Typical PC user


7. The Skinny on Sports


8. Daily Source Code


9. Living on Earth


10. Science Fridays

Just click on the links above and you will be magically whisked away to each of these podcast’s websites. Look for a little orange button with the letters XML on it. There may also be a button that says Subscribe or Podcast. When you click on one of these buttons a new page will appear. This page is full of strange looking code…this is an RSS feed. The only thing that is important to you here is the URL (web address) at the top. Copy the address and paste it into your new aggregator (usually titled Add Feed).

Using iTunes:

1. Open iTunes like you normally would


2. Click on Music Store


3. Click on the Podcasts link in the Inside the Music Store section on the left.


4. Choose a podcast.


5. Click on the Subscribe button.


6. Check the Podcasts playlist on the left side of your iTunes to make sure that you are subscribed.

I am hopeful that these instructions will help you finally hear your first podcast. Enjoy your journey into the podosphere!!! If you need any help just let me know.

If you are reading this and are not someone that I know, please let me know if this information was helpful, and thanks for taking a look!!

See ya.