A podcast is similar to a radio show, except it's in the form of a computer file that you download off the Internet and can listen to at your convenience. You can play the podcast on your computer or on a portable digital music player.
Why would I want to listen to The Chronicle's podcasts?
It's content you won't find anywhere else. It's produced by the folks who bring you the award-winning San Francisco Chronicle. And it's free.
How do I download a podcast?
Just click on the appropriate link in the blog and save the file to a place on your computer that's easy to access (such as your desktop).
How do I listen to a podcast?
Once you've download the podcast, find the file on your computer and click on it to play. (If the software program used to play the podcast doesn't seem to work, right click on the podcast file, choose "open with" and select a different media player.)
You can hear podcasts through your headphones or speakers connected to the computer. You can also transfer the podcast to a portable digital music player and listen to the podcast on the go (such as during your commute to class or work).
What does it mean to "subscribe" to a podcast?
If there's a particular podcast channel you're interested in (for example, "Back Story"), you can subscribe to it so that all new podcasts from that category are automatically downloaded to your computer. Subscribing saves you the hassle of having to manually check for new podcasts each day.
Using music management programs such as iTunes and Windows Media Player, you can also set up your computer so that the podcasts are automatically loaded onto your portable music player. This way, you can easily listen to our audio content on the go.
Apple Computer's online music store, iTunes, makes downloading and subscribing to podcasts simple. More information about subscribing to our podcasts through iTunes at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301880
How do I subscribe to a particular Chronicle podcast channel?
Download and install on your computer a podcast program called an aggregator. There are many to choose from, but iPodder is the most popular. It's free and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. We'll be using iPodder in these instructions.
Once it's installed, run the program.
Click the green button with the + sign. this allows you to "add a feed". A rectangular window will pop up. This is where you'll later paste the address of the podcast you want to subscribe to.
Go back to main podcast page on SFGate.com and click the podcast channel you want to subscribe to (the list is in the right-hand column). Find the orange XML button, right click on it and (depending on your browser) choose "copy shortcut" or "copy link location" or "copy link to clipboard".
Now go back to the iPodder program and paste that link into the "add a feed" window. Hit save.
To play the podcast, go to "preferences" under the "file" menu in iPodder. Choose your player. Hit "save." Then go to the "downloads" tab, right click on the podcast you want to listen to, and choose "play episode."
Another way to play the podcast is to click on the actual podcast file. To find the folder where the podcasts reside, go to "preferences" under the "file" menu in iPodder. Under the "general" tab, you should see the location.
How do I get the podcasts to automatically transfer to my portable music player?
Portable digital music players use music management programs to automatically sync audio files (such as podcasts) on your computer with the device.
If you have an iPod, use iTunes to automatically transfer the podcasts. If you have a different digital music player, Windows Media Player should work.