Getting your hands on your favorite podcasts just get easy with Tuesday ’s outlet of iTunes 4.9 .
The late version of Apple ’s music jukebox and download app adds support for podcasting , a new character of time - shifted amateur radio . Up until iTunes 4.9 ’s discharge , podcasts typically have been downloaded through a podcast client , such asiPodderoriPodderX. Now , iTunes and podcasting are one , finish a on the face of it inevitable union .
Here ’s what you may await when searching for podcasts in iTunes .
iTunes alteration
It ’s in this area where you’re able to adjust your podcast taste — how often you check for new sequence , which ones to download , and how many episodes to keep . For example , you could check for Modern podcasts every 60 minutes , every twenty-four hour period , every week or manually . you could also go under iTunes to download all episodes or only the most late one ( or to do nothing when new episodes are available ) . you could keep all unplayed episodes ( which deletes the podcasts you ’ve heed to ) , the most recent episodes , a rigid number of episodes , or all of your podcasts . There ’s also a clitoris for setting which podcasts are copied to your iPod .
You reach the podcast penchant through a preferences push in the bottom right - hand corner of the Podcasts section or via iTunes 4.9 ’s Preferences .
What about the iTunes Music Store itself ? Click there , and you ’ll see a streamer a the top of the Store announce that “ Podcasts are here . ” That streamer take you to the young Podcasts directory , which looks exactly like the rest of the iTunes Music Store Interface .
Apple has broken down its podcast oblation into category — everything from Arts & Entertainment to move . There are also podcast - specific categories such as Audio Blogs , Public Radio , and Talk Radio . Clicking on one of these categories produces the three - pane view of Genre / Category / Subcategories that will be familiar to anyone who ’s spent any amount of sentence browsing other sections of the iTunes Music Store .
As with other iTunes Music Store offerings , podcasts are searchable by podcaster or by podcast name ; there ’s a hunting bailiwick on the left - hand side of the podcast varlet . The hunting field in the upper right - hand corner of the iTunes Music Store Window ( project on the right ) only searches for podcast when you ’re on the Podcasts Sir Frederick Handley Page ; beneath the field , there ’s a “ Search Podcasts ” description rather of the usual “ Search Music Store . ”
iTunes 4.9 vs. iPodderX
iPodderX works well , but it has a very cluttered interface , with four window across the single software , display podcast listing , the list of files to download , the select file name and a bombastic window for show musical note .
Apple ’s attempt simplifies the port , though it could take a page from iPodderX ’s playbook and incorporate the show notes immediately in iTunes . ( presently , you have to derail to a podcast ’s Web page to find the show line . ) The only information of a particular podcast that you get is just the name , the date , and mayhap a hint in the verbal description line of business .
mix podcasts into iTunes makes getting podcasts easier by obviate the need for a third - party program . Also , iTunes lets your prevue ( or even listen to the whole show ) before you choose to pledge to a particular podcast — a feature film iPodderX does n’t pop the question .
Selection
On first glance , it seems as if Apple did a pretty thorough problem of including a wide range of podcasts to be made available . The iTunes Music Store score all the big ones , include Adam Curry’sDaily Source Code , Dave Winer’sMorning Coffee Notes , The Dawn and Drew Show , andThe Skinny on Sports . There are also a number of radio receiver shows useable as podcasts like WGBH Boston ’s “ Morning Stories , ” KCRW Santa Monica ’s “ Good Food , ” and WNYC New York ’s “ On The Media . ”
However , Apple also managed to associate to small and newer podcasts as well , like the prescribed podcast for the recently completed tv set showStar Trek : Enterpriseto my own podcastThe Wanderlust Geek , and even to my friend David Boyk’sUniversal Poppodcast .
If you ’re new to podcasts , you should check out Curry ’s Podfinder Podcast . Sometimes dearly screw as the “ Podfather , ” Curry is one of the early podcasters and developers for the podcast customer software program . His Podfinder show serves as the iTunes Weekly Podcast Guide , with Curry manoeuver you through what ’s out there with his usual personal magnetism and appealingness .
submit your podcast
Adding your podcast to the premix is wanton , too . Just press the Publish a Podcast push on the main podcasting page . It will then take you to a page where you may type in the RSS provender to your podcast or to a new podcast you ’re reconcile , such as
Click continue — you’ll be prompt for your Apple ID . Once that ’s entered , iTunes will cull your RSS provender for data about the author and the verbal description of the podcast that it will automatically enter . you could also select a category for the podcast to be filed under . Then flick Publish .
You ’ll then see the last screenland , which reads , “ Thank you for publishing this podcast to the Music Store . ” It was one of the first things I did when I fired up iTunes 4.9 at around 10 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday ; as of press time , however , the file I uploaded had not been bestow to the iTunes directory .
Currently one of the biggest podcast directories isPodcast Alley . It might be nice to see a tie-in to that site if Apple wind up lagging on update of unexampled podcasts .
A few hiccup
There ’s also a venial problem of redundancy . A search for “ Curry ” in the podcast directory turns up the Podfinder , The Daily Source Code , two variant of Adam Curry ’s weblog , and two editions of iPodder news , also by Adam Curry . A little housekeeping would seem to be in order .
Hidden features
In addition to Tuesday ’s iTunes update , Apple quietly released a new program called Chapter Tool . Even though it ’s still in beta , it ’s a not bad petty Terminal program that is available as a gratuitous download through the iTunes Music Store .
Chapter Tool allows you to turn your podcasts into “ e;hanced podcasts ” that allow you to create chapter within an MPEG4 AAC file created by iTunes .
Under the Podcasts filmdom , tick Publish A Podcast and then click Learn more about Podcasting on iTunes . Scroll all the way to the bottom and click Download Chapter Tool Beta ( dmg)—it ’s the blue line in the screenshot below .
Be advised , Chapter Tool runs only in the Terminal and requires familiarity with the dictation credit line . If you ’re comfortable in that environment , then have at it .
[ Cyrus Farivar has publish for bothMacworldandThe New York Times . He also host the Geek Factor Podcast . ]
