A
Podcast is a video or audio production that is put out on a periodical
basis allowing for viewers/listeners to download automatically using
RSS feeds.
In layman's terms it is simply a process through which you can easily
keep up with your favorite audio or video content on the web without
having to manually go check all the pages individually.
There's only one thing you need to start subscribing to podcasts and that is a podcatcher.
If you went to a website that had content distributed in podcast form,
you would click/copy the link for their podcast rss file, and put it
into your podcatcher. From
then on your podcatching software will go out at periodic times (you
can set how often) and check to see if a new episode is out. If it finds a new episode it will automatically download it to a folder of your choice.
The most popular podcatcher right now is undoubtedly iTunes.
iTunes allows you to not only automatically download content from
podcasts, but also automaticlly sync the content with your iPod.
Example:
So
for instance, say i listen to This Week in Tech, The Skeptics Guide to
the Universe, Common Sense with Dan Carlin, and the Diggnation Video
Podcast. Normally in order to
listen to or watch these shows, i would have to go to each site every
day to check if a new episode was out, download it to a folder, add it
to my iTunes library, then sync my iPod. This can be quite time consuming for people like me who consume over 10 podcasts a week.
Podcasting allows me to automate the whole process.
All i had to do was go to each webpage once, subscribe to the podcast
with iTunes, and from then on my podcatcher takes care of the rest.
iTunes goes out every hour and checks to see if any new episodes for my
10+ podcasts are availible. If there is a new episode, it automatically downloads it, adds it to my library, and syncs it with my iPod. So now whenever i hit the road, all i have to do is plug in my iPod to get something to listen to in the car. This is the appeal of podcasting.
Where can i get a podcatcher?
If you use
iTunes, you already have a podcatcher! Just click the iTunes podcast link for whatever gamefire show you want to subscribe to. Alternatively, you could search for the show within the iTunes podcast section and find it that way. Lastly, you could manually take the .xml file URL and paste it into iTune's add podcast box.
The advantage of iTunes is if you use it to organize your music, your
podcasts will work right with it and get synced to your iPod with your
music.
If you do not use iTunes, an alternative is a program called Ziepod. Find it at
http://www.ziepod.com/ for details on how to use it.
Where do i subscribe on Gamefire?
If you check out our Shows Page you'll find links to all the podcasts we offer here at Gamefire. They are set just underneath the banner for the show. You can also find the links on the right side of the page whenever you are at a specific show's page.
You'll notice that there are two links. One is a long link to the xml file (which works in all podcatching programs) and another is a small iTunes icon. You can use the first link and copy it into iTunes, but it's usually easier to click the second link to add the podcast into your iTunes. When you click the iTunes icon, you will launch iTunes and it will automatically find the show's podcast page for you. Feel free to leave us a review while you are there!
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