What Is A Podcast? Receiving and using podcast on an iPod.
A podcast simply
refers to a media file such as a video or
an audio file that can be downloaded automatically
to your computer or a portable media player
such as Apple iPod through syndicated feeds
also known as RSS. Hence in order to receive
podcast files it becomes necessary to use
software known as a podcasting client. One
of the most popular podcasting clients or
software is Apple iTunes that you can download
free from the Apple website. You can also
download other clients as well such as Doppler
which runs on Windows and Juice that runs
on multiple platforms. Then there are podcasting
software that can play only one type of file
such as AmaroK and Winamp.
Hence the podcast files can be played, listened
or viewed either through a hardware device
such as Apple iPod or software installed on
the computer like Windows Media Player. You
can manage your podcast files on your iPod
easily. The iTunes software on the iPod automatically
synchronizes with the podcast site and downloads
the latest files automatically. Hence you
are always updated with the latest podcast
files, be it news or music.
iTunes has a very useful option of smart playlists
where you can search for podcast files by
entering different criteria such as type,
date, author, number of times the file is
accessed, etc. Also you can make setting in
the software to synchronize and download only
those podcast files that you want. Hence you
can control the downloading of podcast files
to your iPod.
The smart playlist downloads only the latest
files available on the server that you have
still not listened to. A podcast that is a
few weeks old is not included in the new smart
playlist. Also the podcast that you have already
listened to is not included. Hence when the
iPod is connected to your PC, the user will
not have to listen to the same file or show
again and again. The other criteria to search
for podcasts in the playlist include play
count, rating, last played, playlist and last
skipped. You can also enter specifications
of your own to search for podcast files by
using functions such as does, does not, equals,
between, greater than and less than. Hence
it becomes very easy for you to control exactly
which files you want to download and listen
to from the podcast sites. Smart playlist
ensure that no old files are downloaded.
|
