How to Download Podcasts With iTunes

By | August 13, 2008

What are you passionate about? Writing, music, sports, business, finance? Would you like to learn more about any of these topics?

In this article, you will discover the wealth of information available to you via podcasts – free digital radio shows that cover any topic you could imagine. The cool thing is that you can transfer them to your portable music player and listen to them wherever you go.

I’ll show you how to download and listen to podcasts with iTunes, the free music manager from Apple. One common misconception about podcasts is that you need an iPod to listen to them. The truth is, you can listen to a podcast on any MP3 player, so long as it’s in MP3 format.

INSTALL ITUNES

The first thing you need to do is download and install the iTunes applicaton. A tutorial to assist you with the installation of iTunes can be found here.

Once you’ve successfully installed iTunes, follow the steps below to start downloading podcasts!

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You can use iTunes to download podcasts and organize your songs

ENTER THE ITUNES STORE

Podcasts are available in the iTunes Store.

Click on iTunes Store in the left pane of iTunes:

Click on the iTunes STORE

VIEW PODCASTS

Click on Podcasts under the iTunes STORE heading:

Podcasts are available for free in the iTunes STORE

SELECT CATEGORY & CHOOSE PODCAST

Under CATEGORIES there is a list of topics you can choose from. Let’s check the Business section:

Choose a topic that interests you

Find your favorite podcast and click on it. Or, for a wider selection, click on See All in the FEATURED section:

Select a featured podcast or click "See All" for a wider selection

DOWNLOAD

After clicking on a podcast, you’ll see a list of episodes that you can listen to or download.

To listen an episode without downloading it, just double-click it.

To download it to your computer, click the GET EPISODE button:

BusinessWeek podcasts. To download an episode click on "Get Episode"

If you click on GET EPISODE, iTunes will start to download the podcast.

The spinning arrows beside Downloads indicates a download in progress.

iTunes downloading a podcast

Once the podcast has finished downloading, you can access it by clicking on Podcasts in in left pane.

SUBSCRIBE

If you find a podcast that you like, you can subscribe to it.

If you subscribe to a podcast, iTunes will automatically download any future episodes.

To subscribe to a podcast, click the SUBSCRIBE button in the Podcasts section:

You can subscribe to podcasts to receive new episodes automatically

If you subscribe, iTunes will automatically download a certain number of prior episodes. The number of episodes available on iTunes is set by the publisher.

If you’re looking for more episodes than what’s available in iTunes, check the publisher’s website.

To visit the publisher’s website click on WEBSITE on their podcast page:

Often older episodes can be found on the publisher's website

CONCLUSION

You can find podcasts on nearly any topic imaginable and listen to them wherever you go.

Isn’t it great to have a resource where you can find information on anything?

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