Podcasting 101

Feature

By The Stage Noise Team

February 7 2007

Have people been talking about "podcasts" and you're wondering whether it's something to do with Alien? Have you had a look but not sure how to go further? As you probably know, StageNoise.com offers readers a regularly updated podcast, known as StageCast. Our aim is to bring you a more diverse and complete coverage of the theatre and arts world. In each weekly episode of StageCast you will find interviews with the top talent available at any one time. Guests who have joined us include Rosanne Cash, David Williamson, Barry Otto, Hayden Tee, Tyran Parke, Marina Prior, Simon Burke and many more.

But what is a podcast? The easiest way to think of it is as an online radio serial that you can download and listen to at your leisure. Essentially a podcast is an exciting and simple new way of distributing audio content over the internet.

We want to take the mystery out of podcasting and get you to join the growing audience. So we have compiled this feature with the aim of answering all those questions you may have been afraid to ask, or didn't know you should be asking, and helping you make the most of this new form of entertainment.

What is a podcast?

A podcast is basically a radio show distributed over the internet for playback on portable music players and personal computers.

Do I need an iPod to listen to podcasts like StageCast?

No. The only thing you need to listen to a podcast is a computer. However, portable music devices such as an iPod or any mp3 player (such as those made by Creative) allow you to take the podcast off your computer and listen to it wherever you are!

So how can I listen to StageCast?

There are two simple ways to listen to StageCast:

A StageCast episode page, notice where the Download link is.

Firstly, go to www.stagenoise.com/stagecast and select an episode you would like to listen to. Click on that episode to bring up the shownotes. Halfway down the page you will see a 'download this episode' link. Right click on that link with your mouse (PC, or just click for Mac) and select 'Save Target As'. This will then ask you where you would like to save the file on your computer. Put it in any folder you like but make sure you remember where you put it. (Open a new folder and call it Showcast - easy.) Click 'save' and it will immediately start downloading. Depending on your internet connection, it may take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes to download an episode. Once downloading is completed, find the file where you saved it on your computer, and double click to open it! From there you can transfer it to a portable music player, burn it onto a CD or listen to it on your computer.

The iTunes interface, with the 'subscribe' button highlighted

Or, if you have an iPod and are familiar with the iTunes software, you can access StageCast through iTunes. Go to iTunes, open the music store, search for StageCast and click 'subscribe'. You can also visit this direct link and subscribe. Once subscribed, new episodes will be automatically downloaded.

Podcasting 101

Will I be notified when new episodes are up?

Yes. What makes podcasting different to downloading a regular music file is that the episodes are 'syndicated' through something called an RSS feed. This exists to notify you when new episodes are available.

How do I use this RSS feed so I can be notified?

If you are using iTunes, and you click 'subscribe to this podcast', everything is taken care of for you. If you are not using iTunes, you can subscribe to the feed in a variety of different ways. This is outlined in our tutorial about RSS feeds.

The RSS button in the URL bar

NOTE: Web Browsers such as Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari, allow you to add RSS feeds to your favourites as 'Live Bookmarks'. When you visit a site that offers an RSS feed (like Stage Noise) you will see a little icon in the URL/address bar. This will be orange and say RSS or 'add to live bookmarks'. Add the feed as a Live Bookmark and you're done!