My friend L recently asked me what podcasts were, so since then I’ve been meaning to toss up a few pearls on the subject. Happily, there is a “Plain English” YouTube video that takes care of that for me:
My boyfriend even listens to podcasts on his (formerly my) iPod Shuffle. He fervently resisted the iPod and burned podcasts to a rewritable CD every morning for a long time, but finally he caved and can now be seen with the Shuffle clipped to his shirt pocket at all times. He listens to stuff like Air America. I should note that although almost all podcasts are free, occasionally content requires a subscription (I think Air America does).
I listen to mostly Mac and technology stuff: I know readers will be stunned by this. The point is that there are so many podcasts out there than pretty much anyone can find some that fulfill personal interests. I think the easiest way to listen to podcasts involves iTunes and an iPod (if you have a Shuffle, it won’t autodownload to your device; just drag the podcast over to the Shuffle icon). Just go to the iTunes store, go to podcasts, and browse. When you find one you like, subscribe to it, and iTunes will download the latest episodes automatically. Otherwise, there are giant podcast sites such as Podcast Alley and other cross-platform podcast aggregators such as Lemon. Podcast Alley has info and directions for various situations. Depending on your platform, desktop player, and portable player, instructions will vary, but for all situations the basics will include subscribing to a podcast and arranging for downloads, then, if you want it on a portable player, getting the podcast to the player. It is not complicated even though there are a few steps involved.
Podcasts rule. For once, I thought they sounded cool right from the beginning (normally I am dubious about revolutionary new things). You can even get video podcasts for, eg, National Geographic or the Comedy Channel.
Thanks-I put up a podcast on my site for fun!