Podcasts

What are podcasts?
Podcasts are audio or video broadcasts created and stored digitally on the Internet. Instead of being broadcast over the airwaves at a set time, podcasts were created to be stored and played when you want them. Think of them as radio or TV shows waiting to be downloaded. At anytime there are literally hundreds of thousands of podcasts available covering just about any topic you can think of.

Do I need an iPod to use Podmaster?
No, we've built this site so that you can use your computer or any other audio and video compatible device to download and enjoy our podcasts. Our content is distributed as cross platform compatible audio and video files so you can use it from virtually any computer and play the audio podcasts on any MP3 device and watch the video podcasts on any device that supports MPEG-4 files.

I see there are up to three options when getting Podmaster podcasts.
What is the difference?

Play
This lets you listen to or watch your chosen podcast via the inbuilt Podmaster player.
In order to do this you need to be online. Just click the Play button and Podmaster will play you the file in your browser so turn up the speakers and enjoy.

Download
Downloading lets you save a copy of your chosen podcast directly onto your computer. You can then listen or watch your podcasts whenever you want, or even transfer it onto your portable MP3 player or MPEG-4 compatible device.
How you download the audio will depend on the set up and settings of your computer. Usually, if you want to download the audio you need to click on the link using the button on the right hand side of your mouse. You should then see a list of options including either "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..." If you select this option (or a similar option containing the word "save") you should be able to save the podcast file to your computer. Mac users should control-click the link and select "download linked file". Remember to save it to a folder you'll be able to find again later.
If you click on the Download link using the left hand button on your mouse, a grey box will pop up offering you the chance to open or save. Open will open it in your media player - similar to the Play function above. Save means you can then decide which folder on your computer you wish to save it to.

Podcast
Podcasting lets you automatically receive the latest episode or podcast of your chosen programme or category as soon as it's available. You need to "subscribe" to an RSS feed to receive a podcast, rather like you might subscribe to a magazine and get it delivered each week. And at any time you wish to stop receiving the podcasts you can do so by deleting the RSS feed from you news reader 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. 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 this site for new episodes and automatically download them to your computer.
The steps you go though in order to subscribe to a podcast will vary depending on which software you choose. You can read more about this in What you will need to use our RSS features

RSS Feeds

What is RSS?
RSS allows you to see when sites from all over the Internet have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and articles, audio files, photographs and video in one place, as soon as they are published, without having to remember to visit each site every day.

If the site has an RSS feed then a special piece of software on your computer will check it regularly and tells you when there is something new. We have RSS feeds for our each of our Podmaster channels which will alert you to the latest audio or video shows available for you to download.

How do I start using RSS feeds?
The first thing you will need is something called a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks the RSS feeds that you tell it to and lets you read any new articles that have been added to them. There are many different versions available, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications.

Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want to receive in your news reader, by finding and subscribing to the relevant RSS feeds. For example, if you would like to be notified whenever a new movie or DVD review podcast has been added to Podmaster, simply visit the Entertainment channel and you will notice an orange RSS button next to the channel name.

If you click on the button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader. Most sites that offer RSS feeds use a similar orange RSS button, but some may just have a normal web link to the feed.

Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for RSS feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to RSS feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.

How do I get a news reader?
Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer. Below you will find a list of links enabling you to download many different news readers that are available. If at any point new versions of the software listed below or entirely new software becomes available, we will notify you via RSS feeds (if you have subscribed). If you choose to not subscribe to any of our feeds, please check our home page regularly for news of any software updates.

Recommended news readers
Windows
Newz Crawler
FeedDemon
Awasu

Mac OS X
Newsfire
NetNewsWire
Web
Bloglines
My Yahoo!
NewsGator
Browser
Mozilla Firefox

I'm getting an error message instead of the podcast I've subscribed to. What could be the problem?

Each news reader is set up slightly differently so there is no standard solution so you should refer to the Help or Trouble Shooting section in your application. One option is to delete the feed and re-subscribe - sometimes just cancelling and restarting does the job. If you are having persistent problems with more than one feed then you may want to choose another podcasting application.

Need a bit more help?

If we haven't been able to answer your questions above then please drop us a line. Also feel free to also submit your opinions about Podmaster.co.uk and our content. We are always interested in your thoughts and develop our offering accordingly.