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How do I subscribe to podcasts with iTunes?

Dave, I've read lots of news about how iTunes now supports podcasts directly, but even now that I've downloaded the latest version of iTunes, I can't see how to browse podcasts and subscribe. Help?

Dave's Answer:

This is a delightfully timely question because the iTunes support for podcasts only arrived today, so everyone seeking to enjoy this slick new feature of the best MP3 client available (and, yes, for both Mac and Windows) needs to download the very latest version of the iTunes application, version 4.9.

Once you have this latest version running, to get to the podcast features you'll need to go to the iTunes Music Store. Once you've logged in, you'll find that there's a new store, 'podcasts', in the "Chose Store" column. Click on it, and you'll get here:

Nicely integrated, but we're not quite there yet. At this point, if you're not drawn by the top-ten list or one of the fancy graphical spots, you can browse through a fairly large collection of podcasts by scrolling down to "Categories" on the left side, then click on whatever of the many categories listed. Among those categories are Business, Comedy, Education, Family, Food, Health, Talk Radio and Technology. Don't click on those, though, click on Audio Blogs instead, and now you'll be in the less glamorous information browsing view:

Apple iTunes Podcast Browsing, Specific Audio Blog

You can see that from here, it's phenomenally easy to find whatever you might seek (816 are listed today, with, I'm sure, thousands coming soon). Once you have found a podcast or two that sound cool, just click on the little "subscribe" button.

Me? I subscribed to "Your Mac Life" since it's done by a colleague of mine and is a darn good place to keep up on the world of the Macintosh and the cult too.

When you subscribe to a podcast, you'll need to confirm your subscription, a typically nice Apple touch:

Click "subscribe" and a new category shows up in your iTunes application called, logically enough, "podcasts". Click on that and you'll be able to see all your subscribed podcasts in a neat view. Click on the "update" button on the top right and you can download the very latest podcasts from each that you've subscribed.

Before you go too much further, click on the "Settings..." button and check the preferences to ensure it's as you want:

There's more you can explore, including finding the good podcasts from the vast sea of boring drivel, but that's another story entirely.

There's no question, however, that the inclusion of podcasts into the iTunes program is a significant step on its adoption by the general masses.

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Comments

How do I subscribe to podcasts in iTunes that don't appear in the music store?

Posted by: The Limey at June 30, 2005 9:13 PM

Looks like you need to either get the podcast producer to add it to the iTunes Music Store, or suggest it as an addition yourself, as detailed on the iTMS link "Publish Podcasts" in the Categories section. You can also get there with this iTunes Web link:

https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/publishPodcast

Here's Apple's specific Q&A on this question:

Q: How do I submit my podcast for possible inclusion on the iTunes Music Store?

A: Clicking the Publish Podcast link on the main page of the Podcast genre page in the Music Store allows you to enter the link for the RSS feed of the podcast you'd like to publish to the Music Store. You will be asked to provide the link (including the http:// tag that precedes it), check over the podcast information as it will appear in the Music Store, and provide additional information not included within the feed. Submitted podcasts do not immediately appear in the Music Store and may be reviewed before being posted.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at June 30, 2005 11:27 PM

Or you could just pull down the Advance menu in the menubar to Subscribe to Podcast and then past the URL for the feed you want to subscribe to.

I've done this with several casts and it works fine.

Posted by: Ross Graham at July 1, 2005 2:08 PM

Or you can simply click the purple Podcasts button in the iTunes sidebar, then drag a podcast's RSS URL link from (for example) the podcast's website (it's usually an orange XML-style button) into the main iTunes window. That's it!

Posted by: Derek K. Miller at July 2, 2005 4:13 AM

Hey Guys, I worte a small PHP Code for those who wants to subscribe to the URL's which are not listed in itunes.

Click To View: http://www.podcastbuzz.com/blog/2005/12/26/one-click-subscribe-to-itunes-for-windows-and-mac/

This can be placed on your website as link..

Posted by: Rajat at December 26, 2005 4:24 PM

When I try to select a Podcast the "Subscribe" button is grayed out and will not let me select that Podcast. This is the same for all Podcasts. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Dan at December 10, 2006 7:43 AM

i have the same problem rajat has, the subscribe buttons are gray and i cant clcik them

Posted by: Mike at April 17, 2007 11:15 PM

The button is grayed out because under parental controls you have podcasts disabled. Go to Edit and click preferences. Then go to the parental controls tab and uncheck "Disable Podcasts"

Posted by: Alex at October 17, 2007 9:23 AM

Is there any way to control the time a subscription downloads?

Posted by: Ben Morris at February 19, 2008 5:01 AM

Hi Dave - I have lots of podcasts on my work computer that I have transferred to my ipod (of course!) but how can I delete the podcasts from my iTunes and keep them on my ipod? I want to manually manage my podcasts like I can my music. I can't figure out how to do that.

Thanks for any tips.

Posted by: Jacky at December 17, 2008 12:35 PM

Hi Dave, I regularly listen to Podcasts - there are some really good ones out there - but with my iPod, when I listen to a episode it automatically deletes itself. When I look on my iPod for it again, it isn't there but is on iTunes. But when I press synchronise it doesn't go work.

Please help!

Thanks,

Sam

Posted by: Samuel Shoesmith at December 28, 2008 4:51 PM

Dave,
You saved my life with the greyed out podcast instructions. My wife will think I'm a hero!

Posted by: Mike C at February 14, 2009 11:43 AM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!