Podcasting

What is Podcasting ?
Do I need to have an iPod to listen to podcasts?
What do I need for podcast subscription ?
How do I subscribe to TCC Sermon Podcasts?
Subscribing through iTunes

How do I listen to the sermon ?

You can click on the MP3 or WMA to begin listening to the sermon. These are either MP3 format or Windows Media Audio formats.

Which player should I use ?

There are 2 formats available for sermons - MP3 & WMA. Both MP3 and WMA audio can be played by most players. See below for a suggested list of players.

Where can I download a player ?

	Download RealPlayer
	Download Windows Media Player click here for Other versions of Windows Media Player
	Download iTunes
	Download QuickTime
	Download X MultiMedia System (Unix users only)

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How do I download a sermon ?

Select the audio format for the sermon required or Right-click on the desired icon and "Save target as..." or "Save link as..." Save the file into your local hard drive (or "My Documents" for Windows systems)

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How big are the sermon files ?

WMA files are generally between 10Mb - 15Mb and MP3 files are between 20Mb - 40Mb each. For broadband connection that may take about 3-5 min for each download, while it may take about 10-15min for a 56K modem / dialup connection.

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What is Podcasting ?

Podcasting is the distribution of audio (and possibly other media) files, such as radio programs or music videos, for listening on portable music players (such as the iPod) and personal computers. Instead of being broadcast over the airwaves once and lost, like with traditional radio, podcasts were created to be stored and played at the user's convenience. Think of them as radio shows waiting to be downloaded.

A podcast is a web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to, and also the content of that feed. You can subscribe to TCC Sermon podcast feeds which will download (updated sermons in MP3 files) to your multimedia players automatically when you next connect.

Podcasting allows you to listen to your selected podcasts whenever you like. Furthermore, because of the portability of the player devices, you can listen to audio files from the Internet as you go about your daily activities - for example, listening to TCC Sermon while at the gym, commuting, or just walking around.

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Do I need to have an iPod to listen to podcasts?

No. You can actually listen to podcasts right on your computer desktop. TCC Sermon Podcasts are MP3 files and all you need is an MP3-capable multimedia player (see Where can I download a player ?). You only need an iPod or other portable digital audio players if you want to listen to a podcast while you are working out, driving or taking the bus or train to work or taking the dog for a walk.... If you have an iPod you can then sync your iPod to iTunes (which works on both Windows and Mac systems) and have all your new podcasts copied to your iPod.

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What do I need for podcast subscription ?

If you want to subscribe to our feed, you'll need a podcasting client (also known as 'podcatcher', or 'media aggregator'. Here are some for your selection :

iTunes (version 5 and up has native podcasting support)

Juice (formerly iPodder)

http://www.podcastingnews.com has more.

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How do I subscribe to the TCC Sermons Podcasts?

This subscription need only be done once. You'll see these two links at the top of TCC Sermons Online page,

simply copy and paste the URL: into your favorite podcasting client. or visit the Podcast Site

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Subscribing through iTunes

If you are using iTunes, go to the main navigational menu at the top of the page and click 'advanced', then 'subscribe to podcast'.

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RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication," and is a popular way for websites to syndicate their content. The Bible Gateway publishes content (such as the Verse of the Day) in an RSS feed. When you subscribe to an RSS feed, you can receive that content as soon as it's published, without the need to visit the Bible Gateway website. If you subscribe to our Verse of the Day RSS feed, for instance, the Verse of the Day will automatically be sent to you each day. Subscribing to an RSS feed is free.

Is it like email?
Yes, RSS is similar in many ways to email. Like email, you can subscribe to the content you want and have it sent directly to you. However, RSS has several advantages over email. You don't have to provide any personal information (like an email address) when you subscribe to an RSS feed, and you don't have to go through a complicated process to unsubscribe from a feed--unsubscribing is just a matter of deleting that feed. In short, RSS is safer and easier to manage than email.

How do I read an RSS feed?
To read an RSS feed such as our Verse of the Day feed, you'll need to use a program that can receive and read RSS. Some email programs (such as Thunderbird) have the ability to read RSS feeds built-in, and there are programs available to add RSS-reading capability to other email programs like Outlook. However, many people use programs called RSS readers to manage and read their RSS subscriptions. There are many RSS readers available for all computer platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.), and many of them are free. One of the more popular free RSS readers is FeedReader; there are many others available to try out, as a Google search will reveal.

If you don't want to use a separate program to read RSS feeds, there are several web-based services that let you read and manage RSS feeds online using your normal web browser. Bloglines is one such service.