How do I get a podcast?

[Robyncz]

I've been listening to This American Life for years and years on my MP3 player for a while now, but I've been getting it in a subscription from audible.com. Now This American Life is offering a free podcast of each week's edition the week it airs. Problem is, I have no idea how to "get" the podcast. I'm thinking I need some sort of software. Do any of you listen to podcasts on an MP3 player (not an iPod). If so, how do you "capture" them?

Thanks!
robyn

[Gumbeaux]

Download a free podcast "reader" and then subscribe to the podcast you want to listen to. It will automatically be sent to your computer each time there is a new podcast.

BTW, do you have TIVO?

[sigmaration]

Gumbeaux is correct. iTunes is the most popular of these, and it works with many non-iPods as long as you are not purchasing music from the iTunes Store (which has copy protection that only allows it to play on an iPod). Most podcasts are in mp3 format and should transfer to your player just fine.

Otherwise, there are some other podcast readers (often called "podcatchers") out there, such as Juice (http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/).

[SusanMac]

First -- thanks for the update on TAL!! I love that program, but don't always catch it when it airs locally.

I don't have any special "reader" software to download MP3s. I don't use iTunes. I listen to a variety of podcasts, and there is typically a download button that places the MP3 file on my desktop. Then I just copy it over to my portable player and it works fine. If I want to listen to it on my desktop, I think it typically launches RealPlayer or Windows Media Player (maybe those are my "reader" applications and I just don't know it).

The net-net is that you might not have to go to the trouble to download iTunes. Go to the TAL website first to see what options they offer for download.