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Podcasts: Listen Anytime, Anywhere

This Page

  1. What's a Podcast?
    1. Examples
  2. How do I listen to a Podcast?
  3. Educational Uses
  4. Penn State Instructional Podcasts
    1. podcasts.psu.edu (New Site)
  5. Who Else Has Podcasts?
  6. Podcast Applications
    1. iTunes
    2. Juice
  7. Where to Subscribe
  8. Create Your Own Podcast
    1. iTunes U
    2. Blogs at Penn State
  9. Accessibility Tips

What's a Podcast?

A podcast is a RSS newsfeed or "subscription" which also includes links to audio or video file.

Users may need a podcast player such as Juice (Win/Mac/Linux) or iTunes 4.9 (Win/Mac) to process the audio file. Other podcasts may work with just a plain media player such as Quicktime or Windows Media Player.

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How do I Listen to a Podcast?

A podcast is essentially an archive of MP3 audio files linked to an RSS Channel. There are two ways to access a podcast - through a podcast player which includes a "subscription" feature or through a traditional media player such as Quicktime, Real Player or Windows Media Player.

Many Podcast sites facilitate both methods.

Podcast Player (or "Podcatcher")

  1. Dowloand a free podcast player such as Apple iTunes or iPodder.
  2. Look for a POD or PODCAST icon and click on it.
  3. You will be "subscribed" and files will be accessible.
    Note: In iTunes, files will be downloaded for playing in your iPod.

Quicktime/Windows Media Player/Real Player

  1. Look for a link to an MP3 audio file.
  2. Play audio as you would any other file.

Examples

Podcasting vs. Other Online Audio Technologies

Before podcasting, sites provided audio content in these methods. Both are still in use.

  1. Streaming (Real Player/Quicktime) - Files are not downloaded, but played on the remote server through an audio player such as Quicktime, Real Player or Windows Media Player. Many outlets prefer streaming since the content cannot be copied and shared.
  2. Download MP3's or Other Audio - No "subscription" is available, but these files are downloaded and can be played in iTunes, Quicktime, Real Player or Windows Media Player.

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Educational Uses

Here are some educational benefits of listening to podcasts (and other audio material).

  1. Downloading lecture audio can allow students to review material they may have missed in their notes.
  2. Downloading news programs can allow students to listen to content anytime.
  3. Downloading foreign language content repeatedly allows students to review pronunciation and grammar.

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Penn State Instructional Podcasts

In Spring 2006, Penn State will begin a pilot progam to begin an instructional podcast service.

Who Else Has Podcasts?

Organizations which regularly record audio content such as radio shows and university presentations are offering podcast subscriptions as a podcast.

News Organizations

Podcast Directories

Recorded Lectures

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Plugins/Applications

iTunes

Free download from Apple. More recent versions support more options, including video podcasts.

Subscribe

To subscribe to a podcast.

  1. Open the iTunes application.
    Note: You can search for podcasts from with iTunes, but only if they are registered with Apple.com.
  2. In a browser, look for a site with a POD link and drag it into iTunes.
    Alternate method: In a browser, look for a site with a POD link. Right click (or Control+click on a Mac) and select the copy link option. In iTunes, go to Advanced then Subscribe to Podcasts..., then paste the URL into the pop-up window.
  3. You will see a list of available files in that podcast.
    Note: The most recent file will be downloaded unless you select click the X cancel icon at top.

Visit Podcast

Click the Podcasts icon on the left to view your subscription.

Download

Within each podcast subscription, you will see a Get icon next to any files you have not downloaded. Click on the icon to begin the download process.

Unsubscribe

Click the Podcasts icon on the left. Highlight the channel you wish to remove, then right click (or Control+click on a Mac) and select Clear.

Juice (formerly iPodder)

Free download from Sourceforge.

Subscribe

To subscribe to a podcast.

  1. In a browser, look for a site with a POD link. Right click (or Control+click on a Mac) and select the copy link option.
  2. Open the iPodder application, then click the Subscriptions tab.
  3. Click the green plus icon to add a subscription.
  4. In the pop-up window, paste the URL into the URL field. In most cases, it will end with a .xml extension.
  5. Click Save to close the window.
  6. You will see a list of available files in that podcast.
    Note: The most recent file will be downloaded unless you select click the X cancel icon at top.

Visit Podcast

Click the Subscriptions tab on the top to view your subscription.

Download

Highlight the file you wish to download, then click the Scheduler icon to set up a time when you wish to download the file. You can also open a browser and go to the URL listed for the file.

Unsubscribe

Click the Subscriptions icon on the top. Highlight the channel you wish to remove, then click the red X unsubscribe icon.

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Create Your Own Podcast

There are several options at Penn State for creating a Podcast

Podcasts at Penn State Pilot (iTunes U)

This service allows you to lock down podcast viewing rights by course or other Penn State unit and to navigate to the podcast directly within iTunes but is acessible only through iTunes. Information is available at http://podcasts.psu.edu.

Blogs at Penn State Pilot

Faculty and staff can also use the Blogs at Penn State to create a blog in their Penn State Personal Web space, then post audio files to it. The blog will also create a podcast feed. In this service, podcasts are accessible through iTunes or a media plugin like Quicktime or Windows Media Player, but are always public.

Other Options

To create a podcast you need to

  1. Create and post a MP3 audio file. The Faculty Multimedia Center Tutorials Page includes links to some software such as Garage Band or Quicktime.
  2. Create and post an RSS newsfeed file or blog which specifies links to the audio files. See the RSS XML Files for Podcast section below for details.

Accessibility Tips

If you include podcasts on official Penn State sites, you may need to consider these accessibility tips

Text Transcript (Hearing Impaired Users)

A text transcript may be needed for hearing impaired users. Two easy ways to generate transcripts are

Duplicate iTunes Penn State Link

Visually impaired users of screen readers may have difficulties using iTunes and may prefer Quicktime, Windows Media Player or Juice.

If you upload a file into Penn State iTunes, make sure to create a link to an MP3 file outside of iTunes.

 

RSS XML Files for Podcast

If neither Penn State podcasting solution is right for your needs, you can manually create

Podcast Feed Editors

There are commercial editors which allow you to create the RSS file for Podcasts, but none have been tested at this site.

Create the XML File

You can also create RSS files in a text editor. Information about the RSS Schema is available at the following links. Save the the file as an .xml file and post in any Web space.

Sample RSS File

Here is a sample XML file for a hypothetical podcast of the Paternoville song including tags which are recognized by iTunes.

Sample RSS Podcast File

<?xml_ version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" version="2.0">

<channel>
   <title>Penn State Live</title>
   <link>http://nowhere.psu.edu/songs</link>
   <description>Penn State songs </description>
   <language>en-us</language>
   <copyright>Penn State University Relations</copyright>
   <managingEditor>xyz123@psu.edu</managingEditor>
   <pubDate>Sat, 01 Apr 2006 13:30:00 EDT</pubDate>

<item>
   <title>The Paternoville song</title>
   <link>http://nowhere.psu.edu/paternoville.mp3</link>
   <enclosure url="http://nowhere.psu.edu/paternoville.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"/>
  <category>Penn State songs</category>
  <pubDate>Sun, 01 Jan 2006 11:00:00 EST </pubDate>

<itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
<itunes:subtitle>Sung to the tune of Margaritaville </itunes:subtitle>
<itunes:summary>Your description here </itunes:subtitle>
<itunes:duration>3:30:15</itunes:duration>
<itunes:keywords>penn state paternoville </itunes:duration>
<itunes:category>Music</itunes:category>

</item>

</channel>
</rss>

 

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