How to listen to Podcasts

Step by step guide to getting a podcast

There are three steps involved in setting up your personal computer to receive podcasts.

1. Get some podcast software

You need to install a piece of software which will search the web to find the latest episode and automatically deliver it to your computer.

This software is usually free, and the top three are regarded to be:

• iTunes
• Juice
• Doppler
• List of podcast software on podcastingnews.com

2. Subscribe to podcasts

Once you have the software installed you need to subscribe to some podcasts.

How you do this will vary depending on which software you have chosen. Here is a rough guide to how this might work:

You need to add the "feed" of the podcast to your software. The feed is really just the address of the podcast, which the software will go to each time it wants to check for a new episode.

All the Hampshire Connexions podcast feeds are available on the main podcast page by clicking on the orange XML button. The feed address will appear in the address bar of your internet browser.

You will need to copy this feed address and paste it into your podcast software. How you do this will depend on your software, but you should look out for buttons or links that say "Add" or "Subscribe".

3. Listen to the audio

When a new episode becomes available for the podcast you have subscribed to, your software will automatically download it. For audio, you can then listen to this episode on your computer or transfer it to your portable player to listen to later.

You may want to check the settings of your podcast software for details including how often it will check for new episodes, whether it will keep old episodes for you etc. This will vary depending on the software you have chosen, and your personal preferences.

If you decide that you no longer want to receive podcast episodes then it should be very easy to unsubscribe. Again, how you do this will depend on your software, but you should look for "Clear" or "Unsubscribe" options.

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Page updated: Friday, August 10, 2007 9:00 AM