Podcasting is a way of "subscribing" to an audio or video program online. You use podcasting software that goes and gets the latest episode of a show automatically and downloads it to your computer. If it is audio, you can put the files on an mp3 player such as the Apple iPod and take your favorite programs with you wherever you go. If it is video, you can watch it on the newer iPods, take it with you on your laptop, or use one of the other portable video players such as the Sony PSP.
There are many podcast applications and Web sites out there. Here are the three we recommend most:
iTunes (free software download required -- available for Windows and Mac) Miro (play video podcasts within a browser or sync with portable devices) Open Media Network (play audio and video podcasts within a browser or sync with portable devices)
Getting podcast feeds on your own
You may find yourself on a Web site that you like and notice that they have a link to their podcast. Often it will be accompanied by an image that says "XML", "RSS" or "POD", and looks like this: . These variations and acronyms can make the world of podcasting pretty confusing, but all that really matters is that you know this is a link to a "feed" of the program. A feed is a piece of code that is regularly updated by the creators of the program. Once this feed is in your podcasting software, the software will go and get the new episodes of the show automatically as they are made available.
If you see a podcast feed on a site you like, chances are you won't even have to deal with the feed. If you have the latest version of iTunes already installed, you can subscribe to KQED's video podcast, Gallery Crawl, simply by clicking this link. It will take you into the show's page on iTunes and then you just need to hit the "subscribe" button. Many of the podcasts on our Online On Demand page include direct links to iTunes.
However, if a program you want is not in one of these services, you can always add it. To copy a feed from a Web site, right-click the link or RSS button (on the Mac: hold down the control button and click) and you will be given a set of options. Depending on your Web browser, one of these should read something like "Copy shortcut" or "Copy link location." Choose that.
Now, depending on the podcast software you are using, go to the program and manually add the feed. In iTunes, go up to the menu that reads "Advanced" and choose "Subscribe to podcast." On Odeo, once you are logged in, you will find a green box on the lower right of each page that says "Add a feed."
To paste the feed, again right-click (control-click on the Mac) and choose "paste."
Video podcasts
Audio isn't the only thing that can be distributed via podcast feeds. Many pioneering content producers are creating video podcasts, such as Rocketboom, an online-only show that you can watch directly on the creator's Web site, or subscribe to and watch inside the new version of iTunes.
To find Rocketboom in iTunes, make sure you have the latest version of the free iTunes software, available for both Mac and Windows. Open iTunes, go into the iTunes Music Store (on the left side of the main iTunes window) and click on the left-hand link that reads "Podcasts." There will be a search box, also on the left. Type in "Rocketboom" and the show should appear. Click the button marked "subscribe" and iTunes will automatically get each new episode of Rocketboom for you every weekday.
You can search iTunes podcasts for the term "KQED." You will find all of KQED's radio shows as podcasts, and you will also see our Gallery Crawl and Truly CA Shorts podcasts. You will also discover online-original audio podcasts, such as The Writers' Block.
Be aware that these media files, especially the video, can be quite large. If you subscribe to a lot of podcasts in an application like iTunes, your hard drive can fill up very quickly. If you have a smaller hard drive on your computer (for instance, a machine that is over five years old) be sure that you go through your podcast subscriptions fairly regularly and delete shows you have already heard/seen.
What is peer-to-peer downloading?
Peer-to-peer technology allows people to download larger media files, such as video programs, onto their computers using a network of other individuals' computers. Basically, an initial computer has the full media file. If that computer is in San Francisco, and a computer that wants the file is in New York, the New York computer has to pull the file across the country over the Internet. However, once the New York computer has some of the file, another computer in New York can begin to get parts of it from that machine, and the parts that are still missing from the San Francisco source.
The more computers that have pieces of the file, the faster the distribution of it becomes, because the data has to travel less distance over the network that is the Internet. At the end of the process, once a computer has all the different chunks of the file that it is grabbing from multiple machines on the Internet, the peer-to-peer software puts it all together into a final, playable file.
The most valuable aspect of peer-to-peer technology is that its saves organizations the fees normally associated with the bandwidth it takes to serve up large media files. KQED has partnered with a service called Open Media Network to begin distributing both its television and its radio programming online. KQED Interactive is also engaged in experimenting with online-only original media content. You can download OMN's simple client and search for KQED in their guide.
By subscribing to KQED's programs through OMN, you are saving KQED bandwidth costs, and for that we thank you!
Have fun, and happy downloading.
Questions, concerns, fantastic ideas? Feel free to email us at ondemand@kqed.org.
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. These variations and acronyms can make the world of podcasting pretty confusing, but all that really matters is that you know this is a link to a "feed" of the program. A feed is a piece of code that is regularly updated by the creators of the program. Once this feed is in your podcasting software, the software will go and get the new episodes of the show automatically as they are made available.
