Exploring+Podcasts

Exploring Podcasts
In order to explore the world of podcasts, you will need "podcatching" software. This software allows you to subscribe and listen to podcasts. You can use Google Reader or Bloglines to subscribe and listen to podcasts, as it relies on the same RSS technology. However, the most popular software for this task is Apple's iTunes, a cross-platform software program that can be freely downloaded from Apple's website. If you do not already have it installed on your computer, please download and install it. [|Apple iTunes]

Once installed, launch iTunes and go to the iTunes Music Store. Click on the Podcast Directory. You will see listings for thousands of podcasts in a variety of categories. Click on the education category and look at the Today's Top Podcasts for the Grammar Girl podcast. Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Guide to Better Writing is a nice little podcast that covers a single topic concerning grammar and does so in an entertaining way. The podcast is brief, usually about 5 minutes and is a good podcast for start our exploration. You can look through the lists of past podcasts and click on any of them to listen to a streaming version of the podcast. To download the podcast into your iTunes library, you must subscribe to the podcast by clicking on the Subscribe button. Podcasts are free to subscribe to and can be unsubscribed at any time.

Go ahead and subscribe to the Grammar Girl podcast. In your Podcast section of your library, you will see Grammar Girl listed and the most recent podcast being downloaded. You will also see a listing of previous podcasts and the ability to download them as well. Listen to 1 or 2 of them to get an idea of the podcast. This podcast could easily be used in a middle or high school English class. To unsubscribe to the podcast, if you choose, click Unsubscribe. Apple has some good instructions on using iTunes to find and manage podcasts [|here.] Available online: []

Here are two videos that review how to subscribe and manage podcasts. [] [] Spend some time looking through podcasts that may be of interest to you, and subscribe to them. Listen to both the content and how they are put together.