Podcasting & Internet RadioThe term podcasting is relatively new. Essentially, a podcast is a downloadable audio or video (usually referred to as video podcast) show that can be downloaded on the internet. Podcasting, of course, is the act of making one of the aforementioned shows.

There are several programs used for downloading podcasts. The programs, often called “pod catchers,” allow you to subscribe to specific shows and will detect when new episodes are available. Apple’s iTunes, for instance, will go out and find new episodes of your subscriptions and download them when you start the program.

Internet Radio is slightly different than podcasting. An internet radio broadcast, much like a traditional one, is streamed live and cannot be downloaded. Think of your computer as your car or home stereo and it is receiving a broadcast. It’s that simple.

Both podcasting and internet radio can be taxing on your computer. A high speed internet connection (DSL, Cable) is a must if you plan on downloading shows often. Some of the shorter programs would be accessible to those on a dial-up connection, however, the shows lasting an hour or more would take quite a while without the aforementioned high speed connection.

Today we’ll use iTunes and Windows Media Player to show you how to access the wealth of content available through podcasting and internet radio.

Podcasting & Internet Radio

Removing the confusionHow many of you have heard of Apple’s iPod? This handy little device is a wonderful way to experience music and talk shows downloaded from the internet. Apple was one of the earliest to provide an easy, legal way to download audio through iTunes, their digital music store. You can buy full albums or single tracks from iTunes with a few clicks of a mouse. Podcasting was eventually incorporated into the iTunes store (podcasts are free, music costs money) which really brought online audio into the mainstream.

I titled this section “removing the confusion” due to the name, podcasting. Apple’s device existed quite some time before podcasting became what it is today. So, when one heard the term podcast, they automatically thought an iPod was needed to enjoy them. This is absolutely not true. While using iTunes with an iPod is the simplest way to enjoy a podcast, one can also burn them to a compact disc or add them to another brand of audio device.

Types of podcastsNow that recording equipment is incredibly cheap; more and more home users are producing podcasts. Audacity, a free audio editor, and a cheap microphone, makes producing decent sounding content quite simple. Several websites, such as the aforementioned iTunes, provide hosting and publicity for home brewed shows. There are a countless number of amateurs in the podcast world, and, surprisingly, many are really good.

Several professional broadcasters have migrated to podcasting. Leo Laporte, a highly respected tech journalist, started an audio podcasting network (twit.tv) after TechTV, the television network he was a part of, folded. He’s had lots of success. Kevin Rose, another TechTV alumnus, launched an online video network called Revision3. They produce high quality content on a variety of subjects.

Professional television and radio networks have also turned to podcasting for more promotion. NPR, one of my favorites, has tons of their content available for download via iTunes and their website.

Now that you’ve got a basic knowledge of what a podcast is ... let’s take a look at the Apple iTunes program.

Let’s get into the program...

The above icon is for the iTunes program. Double click it with your mouse to start the program. Eventually you’ll see the program open, which looks like the following picture:

Take a moment and glance around the first page. This is the iTunes store front which has links to all the media available for purchase through the store. Should you want to purchase actual music, many songs can be downloaded for as little as $.99 cents. Full albums are also available at various rates. After buying them, they are legal yours and can be burned to a compact disc. You are forbidden from making multiple copies to share with friends, though.

(let’s get into the program, cont.)

Since we’re here for podcasting, we won’t focus on the paid content today.

Look for the Podcasts link in the iTunes Store menu. Should you have trouble finding it, I’ve highlighted it in the photograph below.

Click this and you’ll be given another store front, but, this time, the links all pertain to podcasts.

NOTE: As I mentioned before, there are other ways to access podcasts. But, since iTunes is the easiest and most readily available, we’re focusing on it. Don’t feel that you are limited to Apple products ... if you feel adventurous there are others you can try.

A quick look around will reveal many ways in which Apple promotes these shows. There are charts for the day’s top podcasts, links to subjects, new content, and more. You could spend a vast amount of time browsing the many shows here. A much easier way to look for things if you know what you specifically want is to use the search box located in the top right hand side of the window, which is show below.

Pick a topic and type it in. After doing so, press enter. The results produced will be for television programs, movies, music and podcasts, which, to me, is a confusing way to organize things. iTunes does present them in categories to help ease the burden on the users.

(let’s get into the program, cont.)I’m a big fan of the NPR show This American Life, so, go back to the search box and we’ll all type in This American Life. It’ll produce the following page.

The photo might be a bit difficult to make out, but, if you did the steps correctly, a page similar to the one above should display on your own.

See the categories I mentioned? On the top right, the big section marked Albums will always contain music for purchase. Since we typed “This American Life,” that means there is probably a song on the album that appears there with that same title. On the far left, you see three sections; Artists and More, TV Seasons, and iTunes U. Here is a breakdown of what you’ll find in each of those:

• Artists and More- Here you’ll find the names of the people and/or companies that produce content. If you click the first result, This American Life, you’ll be given a list of all the content uploaded by that group.

• Tv Seasons- TV shows that pertain to the search phrase “This American Life” will appear here. The NPR show was recently made into a television series on Showtime, which is the first result shown.

• iTunes U- iTunes U is educational based content.

(let’s get into the program, cont.)

If you look at the bottom of your screen, you’ll see several results with either “get episode” or “subscribe” buttons next to them. These are random results based upon your search phrase.

The first result, This American Life by Artist Chicago Public Radio is the latest episode in the series and the one we’re after. The results that follow are older episodes of the show, which, unfortunately, are paid downloads. That’s why they said “Get Episode” in lieu of “Subscribe.”

Subscriptions are the key to podcasting. Without them, you’d simply be going to a website and downloading audio. Everyone know what a TiVo is? It’s a digital device that keeps up with the television shows you like and automatically records them to a set-top box for you to watch later. iTunes, along with other podcast programs, act as TiVo’s for audio. If you subscribe to something then every time you launch iTunes it will go out and see if there are any new programs in the series available and download them for you.

Go ahead and click Subscribe. And, when it asks, tell the program you meant to subscribe by clicking yes. After that your download will begin immediately. If you want, glance over to the left hand side of the menu and you’ll see the word Download with a 1 next to it. Click the word Download to track the progress of the file you’re getting.

The above bar appears next to the name of your podcast to keep track of your download. It overestimates, so, odds are you won’t be waiting 17 minutes.

(let’s get into the program, cont.)

This American Life is typically a one hour show, but, with our internet speed, that shouldn’t take long to download. Feel free to ask any questions while we’re waiting for it to finish.

Let me know when you’re ready to progress.

Listening to your podcastNow that we have a podcast on our computer we need to put it on some form of media. We could listen to it on our PCs, but, unless we’re doing so at work, that could be a bit boring. The two most popular options are burning the show to a compact disc, or putting it on an mp3 player, like the Apple iPod. I’ll now show you how to do both.

Burning to a CD

Find the Podcast link again on the left hand side and click it. Now, you’re screen will have something that looks like the following photo.

I have three episodes; however, you’ll only have one. Click on the episode and then go to the File menu, which, as with most programs, is located in the top left hand corner of the screen. From the menu that appears next, select “Make New Playlist from Selection.”

(burning to a cd, cont.)

This puts a new playlist in the menu on the left hand side of your screen, under the podcast link. It should look similar to the above photograph. Click your playlist and we’ll go to the next step.

Okay, we have our podcast; we have our playlist ... now it’s time to burn!

Locate the button pictured above in the bottom right hand side of your screen. Okay, don’t hit it yet. First we’ll insert a blank CD into our computers. One should have been provided for you in your folder, if not, let me know and I’ll bring one to you.

The CD drive is located on the right hand side of your computer, on the section with the keyboard. The eject button is in the middle. It’s tiny and hard to find, so, if you need help locating it then let me know. Once you’ve found it, press it to open the CD drive.

Now, take your disc and place it in the open drive. After that, simply push it in to close it. We’re almost there!

Go back to the aforementioned burn button, press it, and you’ll instantly hear the extremely loud CD drive go to work. A progress bar at the top of the screen keeps up with how far into the burn you are.

NOTE: There has never been a perfect CD burner, and, odds are there never will be. Occasionally you’ll get an error which ruins the disc and you have to start order. Sadly, this is unavoidable.

The iPod

As much as I detest monopolies, I’ve got to hand it to Apple. iTunes and iPods work extremely well together and there is really no need to purchase another portable audio player. Adding a podcast to your iPod might seem difficult at first, but, after a while, you’ll find it incredibly easy.

There are several models of this machine. Some, called the iPod Shuffle, have no screen and a small amount of storage. Those models are very affordable and perfect for those only wanting to take a few podcasts on the road with them. The bigger models, like the one I have here today, costs roughly $250.00 and has 80 gigabytes of storage.. It, along with the medium sized model, will also handle video. It also can be used as a hard drive, so, if you wish, you can back up data from your computer with it.

There are also kits available which you can buy to hook an iPod into your car stereo. Remember the old tape adapters? You could buy a cd player, hook it to what looked like a cassette tape, and plug it into your car stereo. And, how about the FM transmitters? Hook those to a cd player and your music would be broadcasted through your car stereo. Both of these devices are made for the iPod. Some newer cars even have a port for you to plug your iPod into.

I’ll now walk you through the process of adding a podcast to an iPod should you decide to buy one in the future.

Adding media to your iPod

Every iPod comes with a cable similar to the one shown above. Essentially, this is a USB cable with a specialized end that plugs into your iPod. Along with being the way you transfer music and video your device, this cable also charges your iPod when it is plugged into your computer. If you are using a laptop, be careful, as this could drain your battery if you aren’t plugged in.

Plugging the big end into the bottom of the iPod, and the smaller end into your computer’s USB port automatically makes iTunes pop up.

Once you’ve got iTunes up and running, a menu like the one shown above will pop up in the left hand side of the iTunes program. This is a layout similar to what you already have on your hard drive. Also, after plugging the iPod in, the screen pictured below pops up.

(adding media to your ipod, cont.)

Here you run into what is known as the syncing feature. What that does is allow you to plug in your iPod, click one button, and transfer everything new you’ve downloaded that hasn’t been placed on the device. Very handy, but, since you can only sync with one computer library, it can sometimes be difficult. I have elected to manually sync my library which means I can drag songs to my device as I please. This makes things much simpler.

Now, to transfer, simply go to your Library section (top left hand side of the program). Go into podcasts (or whatever else you wish to transfer), find the one you want, click and drag it to your iPod name section on the left hand side. It’ll then transfer to your iPod.

The only drawback to manually managing your collection instead of syncing is that the podcasts go into the “recently added” playlist instead of the “podcast” section. So, if you use one computer, and like your playlist to be organized, it might be better for you to do the syncing options.

Internet RadioWhile podcasting has killed some of the internet radio buzz, it has yet to completely eliminate it. Occasionally radio stations will broadcast, or stream, concerts, talk shows, or other events over the internet live. They may add it as a downloadable podcast in the future; however, some are only available live.

One drawback to streaming internet audio is that you can’t take it with you. There is no device that acts as a receiver for the broadcasts other than a computer. But, if you’re in front of a computer at work all day, this might be something of interest.

There are lots of ways to access internet radio. As it is with podcasting, iTunes is possibly the easiest way to find and listen to streaming audio on the internet. I’ll walk you through the basic steps in this section and tell you a few other places to go to find shows.

Find the radio link in the library section on the upper right hand side of iTunes. Click it to reveal the following screen:

(internet radio, cont.)

Okay, accessing internet radio is easy. See the little triangles next to the titles (Alternative, Ambient, Blues, etc.)? Click on them to bring up a display of all the available streams in that genre. I’ve expanded the blues section in the above photograph to show you what it looks like.

Next to each stream you see something that looks like “128 kbps.” Kbps (often called Bitrate) stands for kilobytes per second which is something that you really don’t have to worry about. Just know that the higher the number, the better the sound quality. That said, if you’ve got a fickle internet connection, getting a higher quality stream could not run as well as a lower one.

Now that you have your list of titles, all you need to do is click one of them, go to the upper right hand side of the screen, and click the big, round play button. The stream should start in a few seconds.

NOTE: If a stream starts cutting in and out, or sounds a bit weird, that just means either it or your internet connection is having difficulties. Nothing is wrong with your computer.

Other ways to get internet radioThere are lots of other ways to get internet radio. Here are a few:

• Windows Media Player – Every Windows machine comes preinstalled with Windows Media Player. It’s a great way to experience online radio, but, in my opinion, iTunes is much simpler. Some sites with streams will have links that you click that’ll open Windows Media automatically and start playing the audio. But, searching for programming through Windows Media Player is much more challenging than in iTunes.

• Real Player – I don’t recommend anyone add Real Player to their machines. True, you can get audio programming there, but, it comes at a hefty price. Real is what we in the tech business refer to as a system hog. It wants to take over your computer and make itself the default audio player for ever file type.If you’re brave, and don’t mind being haggled by annoying pop-ups and a clunky program, then you may download it free via Real.com.

(internet radio, cont.)

• Pandora – Pandora.com is a great website for discovering new music. You go to it, type in a favorite band of yours, and it suggests a mass amount of other artists that it thinks you’ll appreciate. It uses the results to tailor an audio stream to your tastes in a matter of seconds. Really unique and cool way to find new tunes.

A brief word on piracyMany nefarious souls have taken advantage of the digital media movement to acquire or distribute illegal copies of music, movies, and television shows. All the services I recommended today are 100 percent legal. iTunes is a retailer that pays the record labels for the music sold; people voluntarily put their radio streams on iTunes, Windows Media Player and Real Player; and an artist has to apply to Pandora.com to be added.

One should avoid getting music for free from sites like LimeWire, Bittorent, and others that don’t look legitimate. If you are in doubt about one, use Google.com to search for information about the site. Macafee Site Advisor (siteadvisor.com) is also a great site to help you gauge the value of a specific site.

(a brief word on piracy, cont.)The RIAA (Recording Industy of America) and the MPAA (Motion Picture Assocation of America) are going to great lengths to penalize those who illegal acquire media. It’s important to stay safe and not put yourself in danger of a hefty fine for getting a free CD.

In ClosingHopefully you’ve all found some beneficial information in the class today. Internet audio and video are both great for finding useful, and, well, not so useful forms of entertainment. Thanks for attending the class!