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April 22, 2009 4:15 PM PDT

Getting started with podcasts in iTunes

by Donald Bell

I love podcasts. Not a day goes by that you won't catch me listening to episodes of Buzz Out Loud on the way in to work or getting lost in a podcast version of This American Life on the commute back home. Podcasts keep me informed, they make me laugh, and some podcasts have even made me cry. And the most shocking thing about podcasts? They're free! Some of the best entertainment and journalism in the world is free for the taking, instantly available, and ready to take on the go.

Why is it, then, that so many people are still in the dark when it comes to podcasts? What kind of world are we living in where our current Twitter hysteria has reached the likes of Regis Philbin and Oprah, but a technology like podcasting that can deliver university lectures to anyone with an Internet connection still can't break through to the mainstream? It's madness, I tell you.

To be fair, part of the problem is that podcast nerds like myself don't do enough evangelism around podcasts. So, to get the ball rolling and help demystify things, I've created a video and slideshow tutorial on the basics of subscribing to podcasts in iTunes. Just like last week's how-to on iTunes playlists, the material here may be second-nature to many of you, but I'll wager that there's someone in your life who could use a little Podcast 101.

With thousands of podcasts available on the Internet, there really is something out there for everyone. Maybe all that's needed is a little push.

Getting started with podcasts in iTunes--photos

Donald Bell is CNET Reviews' senior editor for MP3 players and portable audio, and one half of the MP3 Insider blog and weekly podcast. He also likes getting his hands dirty with digital audio tools for musicians and DJs.
Topics:

Digital music,

Unhinged rants,

How to

Tags:

Apple,

iTunes,

podcasts,

iPod

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by ZlateWay April 24, 2009 10:05 AM PDT
really great video tutorial...:)
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by April 24, 2009 12:45 PM PDT
Zune marketplace FTW
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by DigitalAngelic April 26, 2009 8:26 PM PDT
Yes! I prefer the Zune Marketplace over iTunes... well yeah, I'm a Zune fan, but it's also because it just looks nicer. And I've had a bad experience with iTunes. I used to use it all the time. Now... ugh.
by livingaudio April 24, 2009 1:07 PM PDT
Excellent!
Podcast have so much to offer!
Love the video podcast ones expecially but i cant get enough of Tiesto's ClubLife or Area 5's Co-Op; Trance and video games what else!
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by redondo5000 April 24, 2009 2:30 PM PDT
THANK YOU!
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by April 24, 2009 8:52 PM PDT
Thanks! I heard that there were pod casts out there but I really didn't know what they were until you explained it and now I have access to so many things! Thank you again for making everything so easy :)
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by joerog55 April 25, 2009 1:44 AM PDT
Hello, Mr. Bell I have enjoyed your editorials and podcasts for a few years now. I love podcasts and listent to them much more than I listen to music, for all the same reasons you described in this article. I need advice on a couple issues. I am looking for an MP3 player that lets me arrange it completely on my own. I don't want a player to automatically sync and put all my stuff into its own folders for genre, artists, albums, etc. I just want to set up all my stuff into the folders that I arrange to my own preference. My first player was a little 256mb unheard of brand made China that I bought on a plane and it served me well but only lasted about six months. I bought another one of a brand that went defunct. It lasted about the same but it had the most memory at the time 1gb. Both of these were very simple and just let me put stuff in and it played in the order I had loaded it or in alphabetical/numerical order. I bought a 4gb I-Pod which I still have but I absolutely HATE I-tunes for the way it takes over things. The stuff I put into the I-pod gets arranged and sorted the way the designer wants, not the way I want. I bought a Zune (80gb), falling for the write up on how good it was for podcast enthusiasts. It synced with my content but before I could get used to the menus, I was sorely disappointed that it would only play about one-fourth the MP3 podcasts and music I loaded into it. After some messing around, deleting, reloading, formating and reformating and reloading to no avail, it was back in the store 3 days later. I have a Toshiba Gigabeat now, and the sound is great, but again it takes over my content that way it wants to, not the way I want. I tried deleting everything, formating, then making a folder, and then subfolders within that, and put my stuff into categories that I gave the folders. No go. The damn thing just takes all the content and puts it into its own folders by genre, artist, album, and playlists. When I try to go to the locations that I saved my content, I get suborned by the software permanently installed in the player. I can drag and drop to my heart's content but where it ends up is all at the whim of the designer of the player, not me. Can you recommend a good player with reasonable memory (over 4gb) that is not set up with software to automatically sync, sort, and categorize my content? Price is not an obstacle. I just want to put the folders I have on my PC into the player the same way I have them on the PC- music in folders by my preference (ex: Easy Listening/Album/Song); podcasts by content and then by program (ex: technology/Buzz Out Loud or Science/Berkely Groks) etc. My other question is that I have been using I-Podder over the years. Lately, I have not been able to get most of the programming I used to get on I-Podder (now Lemon). I will try to set up a link, but most of the time it will not work giving me 'parsing error' messages, whatever that means. Can you suggest other podcast aggregator sites? Thanks in advance to you and anybody else with good tips and advice. (If you cannot tell by my writing style, I am a cranky old fart-not a Cranky Geek- and I like my technology simple and sweet.) -JR
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by joerog55 April 25, 2009 1:53 AM PDT
Hi It's Joerog55 again, and I just watched the video, which is what I should have done before writing that very long comment. It's a super easy to understand video and I did not know I-Tunes had that podcast aggregation capability. Now, will this work on any MP3 player or only on an I-Pod? (I still don't like I-Tunes but if I can get podcasts from it that easy, I may have to do an attitude adjustment!)
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by zenner77 April 25, 2009 6:58 PM PDT
One issue with iPod's playback of Podcasts is that they are in a reverse chronological order...the most recent Podcast plays first, then the second most recent, etc. So, serialized Podcasts are a problem to listen to. It's like reading chapters of a book in reverse order. For example, there are Podcasts that end with a weekly question ... you don't want to hear the answer (more recent Podcast) before hearing the question! Hence I rarely use the iPod's Podcast mechanism: rather I create a smart playlist that is of type Podcast (Podcast is TRUE, Play count is 0, Album contains "name of podcast", and check "live updating"). I then order the list so that the oldest plays first by clicking the "release date" column in iTunes. After syncing the Playlist with my iPod, I simply listen to the Playlist in the correct chronological order.

If anyone has a more elegant way to solve this problem, please post it
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by rsc87 September 19, 2009 7:32 PM PDT
I know this is an old post, but did you ever come up with a solution to your podcast problem? I recently encountered the same thing and made a playlist (like you) because it was all I could think of. This isn't a huge deal but it is driving me crazy. Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give me.
by PLAFstudies April 26, 2009 6:12 PM PDT
I started hating iTunes when I downloaded it in order to subscribe to some free podcast services. iTunes turned ALL MY FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS down simply because I'm in Brazil not in the US. So, I showed it the bird and uninstalled it for keeps.
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by PLAFstudies May 6, 2009 11:20 AM PDT
I do have some correction to make here and now: I HAVE MANAGED TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY FAVORITE SHOWS USING iTUNES. I do remove what I've previously written. iTunes is just great and works smoothly. It is worth while.
Have a good day.
by shawn7 April 29, 2009 11:07 PM PDT
This is unfortunately the "ME" generation (again!?) and Face Book, Twitter etc. are all about "ME" with "MY" friends and how MANY Friends "I" have and do "I" have more than "YOU"... Podcasts are for folks who want 'content'... so, while some folks are all about "ME" others of us are all about "Content"!!! The "Me" folks do not appear to be interested in anything that is NOT about "THEM", so Podcasts are of little interest...

And... if you like "Content" check out the audio and video podcasts from TED.com!!! NO better place to find "Content"...
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MP3 Insider is a blog and weekly podcast created by CNET's MP3 technology experts, Donald Bell and Jasmine France. Each week, Jasmine and Donald discuss the latest digital music (and video) news, hardware, software, and media services, and address reader calls and e-mail. Send us e-mail at mp3insider@cnet.com or call us at 1-800-720-CNET (2638) and be a part of the show.

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The hosts of MP3 Insider
Donald Bell Donald Bell is an electronic musician, a veteran record store employee, and a fearless hardware hacker. He's also CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 and digital audio.
Jasmine France Jasmine France is CNET's resident digital audio doyenne, writing and editing product reviews, crave blogs, and feature stories on all things MP3. And if you need advice on headphones, she's your girl.

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