Using the iTunes Player for Podcasts
iTunes is a versatile music player for both Mac and PC platforms and is a part of the
district software image for all current computers. It’s basic function as a music player
provides the classroom with a CD player, internet radio, and excellent podcast player and
organizer.
Basic icons used with podcasts
At the far left of the iTunes window, there is a column for
source materials. At the top of the list is your Library
collection. The number next to Podcasts is the number of
unread podcasts in your podcast library. After clicking on the
Podcast library, you will see the total number of subscribed
podcasts associated with iTunes on that computer.
When viewing the Podcast library, you will see a
listing of all subscribed podcasts. Titles starting with a triangle are actually the name of
the podcast. Indented below that are the episodes associated with that podcast.
The blue dot on the far left tells if there is an unread podcast within that subscription. If
the podcast is one that you would like to automatically download when you startup
iTunes, you can click the Subscribe button. Older and non-downloaded episodes will be
shown in gray. You can click
the Get button to download
one without having to
subscribe to the podcast.
There are different types of episodes you can download into your iTunes. With no icon
beside Mrs. Smith’s: Coronado, we
can tell that it is an audio or enhanced
audio podcast. Enhanced audio
simply provides still pictures with the
audio content. What Farm Animal Do
You Hear? is shown as a video
podcast since it has a small TV icon.
The Podcasting Using Windows XP episode will download as a document (pdf, doc, ppt)
and is showing the book icon by the name.
iTunes_and_Podcasts.doc
Page 1
created by: [email protected]
Each episode will show timed
length (if available), date of
release, and a clip from the
episode description. At the far
right of the description, you can
click on the ‘i’ symbol for more
information. The episode
creator can put a large amount
of information in this description field, such as the movie synopsis by Hall Erickson.
Lastly, podcast creators have the ability to label podcasts as Clean or Explicit. That label,
if provided, will show next to the name of the episode. Warning: This is creator
generated. The creator can choose not to label
explicit material or you could be offended by
something which has been labeled as Clean.
Setting up your podcasts
Using the Settings button at
the bottom of the podcast
window, you will get the
user preferences for iTunes.
There are three options for
setting up podcasts.
Checking for new episodes
can be done daily, hourly,
weekly, or manually. You can choose to download all, the most recent, or no new
episodes when they are found. There are a number of options for how many episodes to
keep or automatically delete.
Viewing podcasts
Viewing any episode is as easy as double-clicking on an episode title. A new window
will popup if needed to view any video. Enhanced podcasts can play in the iTunew
preview window or you can click on that window to view it in a larger window.
Subscribing to AISD Podcasts
Subscribing to all AISD podcasts on the AISD Podcasting
Server is pretty easy. First go to ‘podcast/weblogs’ and find a
podcast you wish to subscribe to. At the bottom of the page,
you will see the podcast icon. Clicking on it will open iTunes and
automatically subscribe you to it. You will see the update icon rotating
telling you it’s downloading the latest artifact.
iTunes_and_Podcasts.doc
Page 2
created by: [email protected]