Searching, Listening, Viewing, and Subscribing to Podcasts on an iPod Touch
In this section, I'll go over exactly what the title above says; searching, listening, viewing, and subscribing to podcasts all directly from an iPod Touch. This is extremely easy to do and also fun at the same time while exploring content that appeals to you!
Searching for a Podcast
The first step is obviously searching or browsing for a podcast in a particular area that is of interest. I'll walk you through the steps of how to do so now. Each step is followed by a screenshot to help guide you through the process.
Step 1: Locate the iTunes icon on the iPod Touch. It is a purple icon with a music note in the middle. Tap on the icon to launch the iTunes application.
Step 2: Once the iTunes app is launched, you'll be greeted by a similar screen, like below.
Step 3: The first option is the "Podcasts" section. In order to get to the Podcasts section, you must tap on "More" in the bottom menu. Once "More" is tapped on, you will be taken to a section that contains Podcasts, Audiobooks, iTunes U, and current Downloads.
Step 4a: Once you tap the "Podcasts" option you will be taken to the Podcasts home screen. You will know you are in the right section because it will be labeled at the top. As you can see in the screenshot below, "Podcasts" is clearly the heading. Here you can browse "What's Hot", "Top Tens", and "Categories". On the screenshot below, you can see "Categories" is selected. You can browse through many useful categories. iTunes has an Education category setup that you can easily browse through and explore.
Step 4b: Another option is to go back to the "More" section and use the "iTunes U" category. The "iTunes U" section contains many podcasts from prestigious schools all around the country. iTunes U functions just like Podcasts, but iTunes U contains material created and distributed by that university. For instance, if I was to download a podcast from MIT's iTunes U, I would be downloading a file made by the university or a professor from the university.
Step 4c: A third and final option is to use the "Search: option in the bottom menu. This is a great way if you know exactly what you are looking for. As you can see below, I searched biology. Searching biology is broad so it will give you everything in the music, podcasts, iTunes U, albums, etc. section pertaining to biology. Sometimes this is a great way to explore and see what pops up.
Step 5: Once you find what it is you are looking for, just tap on it. For this example, I am going to use MIT's "Intro to Biology". I'll just tap on it and it will bring me to all of the podcasts for the "Intro to Biology" section.
Step 6: After you tap on the podcast you would like, you will be brought to all of the podcasts for that podcast contributor.
Step 7: Before you download a podcast you can preview a small snippet of it. In order to do so, click on the title of the podcast itself. This will play the podcast over the Internet without downloading it. Some even allow for the entire podcast to be played from directly over the Internet without downloading it. There are of course pluses and minuses to downloading vs. playing it directly over the Internet.
Once you have made your selection, click on the free button (Almost all podcasts from contributors and iTunes U are free). When you click the free button, it will turn to a green DOWNLOAD button now. Click the DOWNLOAD button and the podcast will begin downloading to the iPod Touch.
Step 8: When the podcast begins to download, the download button is replaced with a right arrow, >, and a one appear in the "More" section of the bottom toolbar. The one represents how many downloads are taking place.
Step 9: One of the last steps is accessing the podcast you just downloaded. You just need to remember where you got it from. Remember in this case I took a podcast from the "iTunes U" section and not from the "Podcasts" section. This seems tricky and silly, but it is the easiest way iTunes can organize itself and keep university content separate from content other contributors create.
Now, in order to listen to the podcast we need to go back to the home screen. In case you aren't sure how to get to the home screen, hit the home button on the iPod Touch. It is the circular button at the bottom of the screen on the iPod Touch.
Once back at the home screen, you need to launch the iPod player. To launch the iPod player click the iPod icon which is an orange icon.
Step 10: Similar to iTunes, the iPod player has a menu at the bottom and the all to familiar "More" option. Tap on the "More" option to get to the podcasts and iTunes U section. In the "More" section you will find albums, audiobooks, compilations, composers, genres, iTunes U, and podcasts.
Now, to play the podcast we downloaded we need to tap on the "iTunes U" section.
Step 11: In the "iTunes U" section, we'll see the podcast we downloaded from MIT's iTunes U. Tap on the podcast and it will begin playing.
Subscribing to Podcasts References
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