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How do I subscribe to a podcast?
You will need an internet connection; and a piece of podcast software or an RSS feed reader (see Related Links).
How you subscribe will vary depending on which software you have chosen. Three pieces of software are iTunes, Juice and Doppler.
You can also subscribe using a web-based “feed reader” such as My Yahoo or Google Reader. These work in a similar way to the podcast software but are online rather than application-based and you need to have an account - they're usually free and easy to set-up but you will need an email address.
To subscribe the first thing you need to do is add the "feed" of the podcast to your software (or online reader). The feed is where the software will go to each time it wants to check for a new episode.
You can find the feed for any ACO podcast in the subscribe box. The feed will start with "http://www.aco.org/..."
ACO Subscribe box
You will need to copy this feed address and paste it into your podcast software. How you do this will depend on your software, but you should look out for buttons or links that say "Add" or "Subscribe".
One-click subscription
Alternatively, some software and readers provide one-click subscription. At the moment, the BBC provide quick links for iTunes, My Yahoo and Google Reader - just click the relevant one-click subscription button.
The software will do the rest.
How to download
If you would rather not subscribe, you can download individual episodes of this podcast to your computer.
To do this, right click on the "Download Episode" link and choose "Save Target As...", "Save Link As...", or a similar option.
Mac users may need to hold CTRL and click, then select "Download Linked File".
You should then be asked where to save the episode on your computer. All episodes are mp3 audio files.
Please note: depending on your computer's settings, left clicking on "Download "Episode" may cause the episode to play in your default media player, but it will not be saved.
More help topics
- What is a podcast?
Podcasting lets you automatically receive the latest episode of your chosen programme as soon as it's available. You need to "subscribe" to receive a podcast, rather like you might subscribe to a magazine and get it delivered each week. An important difference is that all of the BBC's podcasts are free, and you can stop receiving the files at any time.
In order to sign up for a podcast you need an internet connection and a piece of podcast software which is usually available free of charge. This software can check the BBC for new episodes and automatically download them for you. - What is an mp3?
MP3 is a popular digital music format for sound files, that are small in size but still reasonably high quality.
This makes it a very suitable format for downloading from the web � audio files can be reduced to around a tenth of their normal size without significant loss of quality. This is achieved by stripping out a lot of the recorded information that our ears aren't able to hear, like the sounds that are outside our hearing range. - What is RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. By using RSS you can see when new internet content has been added.
You can get the latest news headlines, articles, photographs and, of course, podcasts, as soon as they are published without having to check manually every day. To do this you subscribe to an RSS document, which is sometimes called a "feed", using a "feed reader". This is a piece of software that checks RSS feeds for new content. To start the subscription you simply enter the RSS feed into the software and it does the rest for you.
To get a podcast you will need podcast software (see Related Links). You subscribe to the podcast by entering the feed's link into the software. This initiates the subscription process. The software then regularly checks your subscribed feeds for new podcasts, downloading any new episodes that it finds. - Getting started
Podcasting lets you automatically receive the latest episode of your chosen programme as soon as it's available. You need to "subscribe" to receive a podcast, rather like you might subscribe to a magazine and get it delivered each week. You can stop receiving the files at any time.
In order to sign up for a podcast you need an internet connection and a piece of podcast software which is usually available free of charge. This software can check the ACO for new podcasts and automatically download them for you.
The steps you go though in order to subscribe to a podcast will vary depending on which software you choose.
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