Choosing Your Podcatcher

The podcatcher emerged as a standalone application for managing podcast subscriptions, but the functionality is now built into many of the applications you may use for e-mail, RSS feed reading, and your browser. In some cases, sites that aggregate podcast feeds also provide synchronization with your local audio application or allow listening in an online player, so you never need to download the podcasts or any software to your local hard drive.

Most important to your convenience is the ability to associate your podcatching with other kinds of audio management tools you have. If, for example, you have Windows and rely on Windows Media Player to listen to CDs, store MP3s, and synchronize your mobile audio device, you want a podcatcher that can hand files to Windows Media Player, identifying them as podcasts so that you can find and listen to them in your library. Macintosh users and many Windows-using iPod owners, on the other hand, want their podcatchers to deliver programs to the iTunes software they use for music, video, and MP3s, because it makes synchronizing to the iPod a snap.

With so many to choose from, the best way to start is to try a couple for yourself and see which one you like. We suggest visiting CNET's http://Download.com (http://www.download.com/) or Podcast Alley's Top 20 Rated pages (http://www.podcastalley.com/forum/links.php?func=toprated) to see what other folks are ranking among the best of the current crop. These are some of our favorites:

Juice: A free (though donations are welcomed) open-source podcatcher for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems. Created on the foundation of the original podcatch software, Juice evolved nicely to provide a simple, straightforward experience with links to interesting services for sharing and rating podcasts, which keeps you tapped into what's new in the podosphere. Download it at juicereceiver.sourceforge.net.

Nimiq: Another free podcatcher, Nimiq has the added attraction that it also handles BitTorrent downloads, the most popular way to share files, especially music and video, between peers on the Net. It includes support for the emerging OPML browser features that allow you and others to share your playlists to improve community search. Download at http://www.nimiq.nl/

NetNewsWire: A robust Macintosh RSS reader, NetNewsWire can handle podcast subscriptions, handing them to iTunes and adding custom category descriptions so that they are easy to find on your iPod. Although it isn't free at $29.95, it serves so many useful purposes for Mac users that we think it's highly worthwhile. Download a trial version at http://www.newsgator.com/NGOLProduct.aspx?ProdID=NetNewsWire.

Newsgator: From the same company that makes NetNewsWire, Newsgator is the most advanced Windows RSS product available, integrating blog and news subscriptions, podcasts, and much more into Microsoft's Outlook productivity application and a hosted version on the Web that can be integrated into the Yahoo Messenger instant messager client. The cost is $29.95. Download a trial at http://www.newsgator.com/.

FeedDemon: Newsgator has been accumulating a variety of podcatcher applications, including another widely used favorite, FeedDemon 2.0, which features custom organization of text feeds and podcasts, with direct download to a docked iPod. The software is $29.95. A free trial is available at http://www.newsgator.com/NGOLProduct.aspx?ProdId=FeedDemon.

iTunes: Apple's music application, which comes on all Macs and in the box with any iPod for the PC, also is an outstanding podcatcher. It's free to download at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/.

In a nutshell, look for a client that supports adding podcasts to the rest of your listening rather than having to create another catalog of audio on your computer. All the applications listed in this section meet that expectation and more. So let's look at how to install these applications.