A few weeks ago in the Podcast Corner, I gave an overview of the world of podcasts, which opened up many questions about how to listen to on-demand audio programs. Thank you for asking!
Many of our long-time No Depression community members access the internet primarily via a desktop or laptop computer, often without WiFi or high-speed connections, so today I will address those needs. In a future post, I’ll look at popular ways to listen on mobile devices, such as tablets, phones, and music players.
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What is a podcast? A podcast is like a radio program that you can listen to whenever you want.
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How can I listen to a podcast? There are two ways to listen to a podcast. If you are connected to the internet and listening through your computer speakers or headphones, that is called “streaming.” You can also download a podcast, just like you would download and save any file from the web, and listen to it later, without needing to be connected to the internet.
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Where are there podcasts on No Depression? On the new website, click on “Media,” then scroll down the page to “Podcasts” at the bottom. You’ll see the Podcast Corner and my cartoon head, but just to the right, look for “All Podcasts >>.” Click “All Podcasts >>” and the podcast page pops up. To make it easier, you can just bookmark this link. Now you can see all of the podcasts in the No Depression community! You might notice that there are tons of different ones, which is why we collect a few each week to feature in the Podcast Corner. More about listening via the Podcast Corner in a moment.
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How do I listen to podcasts on No Depression? All of the podcasts on ND can be streamed (listening while connected to the internet). Some of the podcasts can also be downloaded (so you can listen later without having to be connected to the web). In order to download a podcast, click the icon that looks like a downward arrow with a horizontal line underneath (the download icon) or follow the link posted by the host. You can then save that podcast to your computer to listen later. Because each host uses one of several hosting sites for her or his podcast, there is not “one way” to listen to all the podcasts. Podcasting is still grassroots and decentralized, so every host site differs. This week’s Podcast Corner collection demonstrates just how diverse some of our podcasts are.
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How do I listen to podcasts that are featured in the Podcast Corner? Each week, we feature a small number of podcasts, collected around a theme. At the bottom of that post is a large image slider, with orange arrows on either side of the numbers. Click the arrows to slide to the next podcast in the collection. Then, you click that podcast to open up the homepage for that particular podcast. (You cannot actually listen to the podcast from the slider page. That is a fabulous question, asked by many people.) Go ahead and click the orange “follow” button, and you will always know when a new collection of podcasts is waiting for you to listen!
Do y’all have a podcast theme, recurring thread, or podcasting technical question you’d like me to cover in the Podcast Corner? Pop me a note via the Contact link, and I’ll do my best to serve it up soon. As always, if you know of a great roots music podcast, we would love to have it uploaded to No Depression — all a podcaster has to do is join at the top right of the page (free!), read & agree to the FAQ & regulations, and post under “Podcasts.”
