It's my impression that most people who are on this blog aren't that tech savvy. They know how to read blogs, but only because they stumbled across a mom blog one day. They follow links on people's blogs to discover new blogs (like Works for Me Wednesday!). They have watched a few videos on YouTube that people showed them, and that's about as far as it goes.
They may or may not have an iPod, but if they do, it's only because their kids or their husband added songs to it for them. Sure there are exceptions, and some of us really know what we're doing, but I think most of us are still getting used to technology. We're happy that we know how to get on a computer, we're happy that we've figured out some of Blogger's functions, but we haven't explored much.
But I'm beginning to think that the internet, in five years, is going to replace other media completely. We don't have a TV, and yet I'm better informed than most of my friends because I spend my life reading political blogs (though I'm trying to cut back. I'm Sheila Gregoire and I'm a political junkie. I've been clean for threee days and haven't surfed in that time...)
I've downloaded TV shows and watched them off the internet, which is a whole lot cheaper than getting satellite. I've used interactive sites around the internet to educate my kids when I need a break and can't homeschool them really well. Almost everything we need is at our fingertips.
But the one area that hasn't been explored yet for many women is podcasts. I think it's like we're sitting on top of this mountain, and inside that mountain is a diamond mine, but we don't know where the entrance is. So today, I'm going to tell you. It's honestly not that hard.
If the words "download" and "burning" sound like some sort of a disease that isn't talked about in polite company rather than something that might actually be fun, don't worry! You're not alone. But it's amazingly easy.
Do you love certain teaching programs, like Focus on the Family or Joyce Meyers? Do you love certain political shows, like Rush Limbaugh? Pretty much anything on the radio is available for download. And it's not hard. If you go on their websites and follow their links to the podcasts, you can download them onto your hard drive, or you can listen to them right then and there. But can I suggest downloading them? Create a file specifically for downloads, so you always know where they are.
But there's an even easier way to do it. Go to iTunes.com. It's not scary, believe me. And download the iTunes software. It's safe. Now you can go into their store and search for podcasts. You can search for Christian mom podcasts, or for knitting podcasts (I've listened to a ton of them!). And then you can subscribe. When you subscribe, every time you open iTunes it searches those podcasts and finds the most recent one, and downloads it for you.
Now, if you have an iPod, you can just plug it in at this point and copy all the new podcasts onto it. Then, next time you go jogging, or go for a walk, or even do your dishes, you can listen in! It makes life much more interesting.
I even started podcasting myself! If you go to iTunes, and search for "To Love, Honor and Vacuum", up I pop! If you hit subscribe, iTunes will save each podcast for you which you can then burn onto a CD.
If you just want to listen to it online, you can subscribe by just going to my podcast here and clicking on the links. Then you can just listen to whichever episodes are up when you look at your feeds.
Speaking of feeds, do you all know how to subscribe to them? If you look at the top of your browser button, you'll probably see a little orange box with some scribbly lines in it, that looks like this:
If you click on that link and the arrow beside it, you can subscribe to that blog. The computer will save it under your feeds, which you can usually access through your favorites folder, and then you can stay up to date with all your favorite blogs! It's really fun. I have way too many feeds that I'm subscribed to, though! And you can even subscribe to mine by clicking the link at the bottom of this post. Anyway, just try it. Download some podcasts. Subscribe to some feeds. You'll find this great new world out there, and it's way better than TV!
Subscribe to my feed by clicking above!Labels: blogging, podcast, Works for Me Wednesdays |
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I love podcasts, it makes the mundane tasks go by faster. My favorites are
Pregtastic
the Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack
Mars Hill with Rob Bell