Podcast listening for Beginners (3)

In the first post in this series, I gave the shortest way to listening to a podcast: clicking on it in the web and playing it in your browser or media player.
In the second, I explained how you can download and store podcast files.

Now we proceed and come to the same thing, but all in one environment, with the added capacity of finding new podcasts. Moreover, and more essential, here we also meet the indispensable subscription to podcasts: in iTunes. iTunes is a free application that allows you to find, store and play podcasts, as well as subscribe to them.

The installer can be downloaded here. Click the blue button, proceed according to the instructions. The installer file will be downloaded to your computer. Store wherever you want and after the install you can delete the file if you wish.

After the download you will have iTunesSetUp.exe on your computer. Double-click the file and proceed through the installation according to the instructions it prompts. (My advice is to go with the default settings the installer proposes. Apart from iTunes, it will also install QuickTime, which you will need on occasion.)



Once installed, iTunes will be the application that plays your MP3 files. Double-click any such file, iTunes will fire up and play. Every file that has been played once, will be stored in iTunes' local library and you can easily find this in the Music folder.

There is also a podcast folder and here is where you will become a true podcast listener. In this folder you will store and play your podcasts, from here you can find nearly any podcast and from here you can also copy them to an iPod or other player. Have you heard some criticism on iTunes here and there? That may well be, it may even have been me, but those issues hurt advanced users and they have advanced solutions. For the beginner and the moderately experienced podcast listener, iTunes is the ideal starting point.

Using iTunes to get podcasts will be the subject for the next article.

Previously:
Downloading audio files from the web
Listening on line

In Memoriam: J.A.A. van Doorn

Vanochtend las ik in zowel NRC als de Volkskrant dat de socioloog en columnist J.A.A. van Doorn is overleden. Ik behoor tot de generatie die uit zijn basisboek sociologie heeft geleerd en die zijn commentaren in de krant las. In podcasts heb ik hem tweemaal gehoord - twee interviews bij de VPRO. Ter nagedachtenis bij deze een van de twee opnieuw gepost. De tweede zal ik morgen nogmaals uitbrengen.

Marathon interview J. A. A. van Doorn

Arend jan Heerma van Voss zoekt naar woorden. Er is een zekere passie in de interviewer. Ik heb het gevoel dat hij niet alleen ongelofelijk veel respect voor de geinterviewde Van Doorn heeft. Hij is ook geinspireerd, maar nog op zoek om zijn gedachten te ordenen. Van Doorn wacht het geduldig af.

Zo gaat het interview. Heerma van Voss zoekt en Van Doorn blijft geduldig. En zo zoeken we onze weg. Door de vaderlandse politiek, door het Duitse Socialisme (opnieuw) en de ontwikkeling van de sociologie. Wat mij betreft mag het nog wel langer dan drie uur duren. Wat ben ik blij dat deze radio ook als podcast uitgebracht wordt.

Meer marathon interviews:
Ruud Lubbers,
Jan Leijten,
Bertus Hendriks,
Gerrit Wagner,
Rijk de Gooyer.

Morgen:
Interview Vrijdag met J.A.A. van Doorn.

Helen of Troy

Can you make a biography of a fictitious figure? TPN's The Biography Show tentatively thinks so. On account of listener requests, and the principle of having not just male, but also female biographies, Helen of Troy became the subject of show #3.

Hosts Cameron Reilly and David Markham go through great lengths to justify this choice. One of the major points being that the Greek and Roman literature about Troy have made such enormous impact in culture, so that one can say they are part of history. They are also effective in getting the story clear and make some entertaining commentary. That made it a very successful show as opposed to the previous one.

The second show was on Hammurabi. Historically a very interesting figure, but somehow, apparently, not fit for a 50 minute podcast. It was too much of Markham summing up what were the events and the meanings of Hammurabi, his reign and his law code. And now that we are comparing. The first show, about Alexander the Great rocked like this one about Helen of Troy. Hence, we are looking forward to the next issue which has been published yesterday: Sargon of Akkad.

More TPN:
Alexander the Great - Biography Show,
TPN Napoleon 1O1.