Subscribing to Your First Podcast in iTunes

iTunes' interface is basically the same in Macintosh and Windows, though here we're going to walk through the subscription process in the Mac version. Again, let's assume that you've got an RSS reader that typically handles your RSS subscriptions, so we've copied the URL of the XML file used by CNET's Buzz Out Loud podcast RSS feed. Now, open iTunes and click the Advanced menu, where the second option is Subscribe to Podcast.

1 - Select the Subscribe to Podcast… option in the Advanced menu, which opens a dialog box where you paste the URL of the podcast RSS feed of the program. When you click OK in this dialog box, iTunes queries the server and retrieves a list of available shows. It downloads only the last podcast immediately, leaving the rest for your review and, if you like, downloading. iTunes also continues to check the server on a regular schedule for new shows, downloading new programs as they are released.

2 - iTunes doesn't display lots of information about each show, so you can Ctrl+click (with a one-button mouse) or right-click (with a three-button mouse) the title and select Show Description to read show notes, which include guest lists, topics discussed, and songs played on the program.

3 - If you select Get Info, you get a much more complete view of the metadata for the podcast and individual shows, including the show logo, encoding format, bit rate, sample rate, and so forth. Click the Info pane in the Get Info dialog box to see the show notes.

4 - To play a podcast, double-click the title in the iTunes library.