What Is It?
A “podcast” is normally an audio or video file that, like your Sunday newspaper, is delivered to you automatically when it is published.
The word “podcasting” is a portmanteau combining the words “broadcasting” and “iPod.” In case you don’t keep up with popular technology, an iPod is a portable music player produced by Apple Computers. Apple was lucky/smart enough that their brand was wrapped into a term for a new technology much like the Sony Walkman becoming the popular name for a portable radio/cassette player or inline skates being called “roller blades”, which is brand name for a company that produces inline skates.
Why Do I Care?
Besides wanting to be like all the cool kids, there are a few reasons why this is a neat thing.
- You can listen or watch when it is convenient for you
- It’s free (at least ours is and most others as well)
How Do I Use It?
First off, you do not need an iPod to participate. You don’t even need a portable mp3 player or other fancy gadget that costs way too much money. All you need is a computer with internet access.
There are several ways to listen:
- Click on the gray player in the page.
- Click the “Play in Popup” link. This will open the same player in another window that you can minimize.
- Click the “Download” link. Depending on your browser, it will either play it in a new window or you will be prompted to save the media file to your computer. If you want to make sure you can save it to your computer, right click on that same link and choose “save link/target as”. This text will vary depending on the browser you are using.
You can also subscribe to the podcast and have it automatically downloaded to your computer when a new episode is available. The easiest way to do this is to first download the free software iTunes. Once you have downloaded iTunes, you can subscribe to the audio or video podcasts in the right-hand menu. If you are familiar with this process, you can use any compatible service to listen to our podcast.
If you have any questions or problems, please do not hesitate to contact us. We understand that it is a brave new world out there and we just want to help you gain a tiny foothold!