|
The iTunes Podcast page on the iTunes Music Store lets you browse, find, preview, and subscribe to thousands of podcasts, all of which are free of charge. You don't need an account to browse the store and subscribe to podcasts.
In case you don't know, podcasting is a popular method of publishing audio files to the Internet, enabling people to subscribe to a feed and receive new audio files automatically. Similar to a tape of a radio broadcast, you can save a podcast and play it back at your convenience, both in iTunes on your computer and on your iPod. A podcast can be anything from a single song to a commentary-hosted radio show.
To find podcasts in the iTunes Music Store, do one of the following:
- Click the Podcasts link located among the Music Store links on the home page. The store displays the Podcast page, with advertisements for popular podcasts and a list of Today's Top Podcasts. You can click the pop-up menu under Today's Top Podcasts to see the most popular podcasts in specific categories.
 | You can also get to the Podcast page by clicking Podcasts in the iTunes Source pane and then clicking Podcast Directory at the bottom of the Song List view. |
- Search from the Podcast page of the iTunes Music Store. Scroll down just a bit, and in the left column, enter your search terms in the search field just above the Search All Podcasts pop-up menu. Use the Search All Podcasts pop-up menu to narrow your search by podcast title or author.
After you select a podcast, the store displays the podcast's specific page in the iTunes Music Store with all available podcast episodes in the song list.
To select, play, and subscribe to a podcast, follow these steps:
1. Choose a podcast in the Music Store.
The Music Store offers a description, a Subscribe button to receive new podcasts, and a link to the podcast's Web site for more information. The page also lists the most recent podcast. Some podcasters offer several podcasts in one feed. You can click the lowercase i icon on the far-right podcast listing margin to display separate information about the podcast.
2. To preview the podcast, click the Play button or press the spacebar.
You can play a preview of any podcast in the list. iTunes plays the podcast for about 90 seconds just like a Web radio station, streaming to your computer. To jump ahead in a podcast or play the entire podcast episode, you must first subscribe to the podcast. By subscribing, you download a set of podcast episodes to your computer.
3. Click the Subscribe button to subscribe to the podcast.
In typical Apple fashion, iTunes first displays an alert to confirm that you want to subscribe to the podcast.
4. Click OK to confirm.
iTunes downloads the podcast to your computer and switches to the Podcasts selection in the Source pane. iTunes displays your newly subscribed podcast in the song list.
5. (Optional) Get more episodes of the podcast.
When you subscribe to a podcast, you get the current episode. However, each podcast can contain multiple episodes. To download previously available episodes, click the triangle next to the podcast name in the song list to see the individual episodes, and then click the Get button next to an episode to download it.
6. To play the podcast in full, select it and click the Play button.
Anyone can create a podcast and then submit it to the store by following Apple's published guidelines. (Click the Submit a Podcast link on the Podcast page in the store.)
You can play the podcast, incorporate it into playlists, and make copies and burn CDs as much as you like. If you don't like the podcast, simply delete it from your iTunes library and update your iPod.
| 
