About Our Podcasts
What is a podcast
Why is it called a podcast
I don't have an 'iPod' or a 'media player'. I just want to listen to your audio file, what do I do?
I want to subscribe to Leadership Network's podcasts, what do I do?
What is a podcast?
Technically speaking, a podcast is just a normal audio or video file (video podcasts are often referred to as vodcasts). You can click on the link to a podcast to begin a download process. Once the download is complete, you'll hear or see the media just as you would expect. If this is all you want to do — i.e., listen to an audio file — just pretend it's called an mp3 because essentially that's what it is!
What makes an mp3 (or other standard audio file) a podcast is the ability to subscribe to it. Using a subscription-capable media player (like iTunes), you can set up a process that routinely checks for new media on a particular podcast server. This is called a subscription. So if you set up a subscription to Leadership Network's podcast server, your media player will periodically go to our server and see if there's anything new. If there is, it will download the new media automatically and you'll see the new media ready for you to experience at your convenience.
Why is it called a podcast?
This technique really arose from people with portable media players capable of storing large amounts of media (the most popular of which is Apple's iPod) who wanted new and fresh media to listen to without having to spend the time to manually download it. They'd use their desktop media player to subscribe to a service that offered media, or broadcasts, that interested them, then just sync up the their iPod and be on their way. Since the capabilities of the iPod are what really fostered this technique, the technique is called podcasting.
I don't have an iPod or a media player. I just want to listen to a your audio file, what do I do?
Just click the "Connect" button. A new window will open, and the audio file will begin to download. Wait for the download to finish, then you'll hear the audio.
I want to subscribe to Leadership Network's podcasts, what do I do?
First you need a media player if you don't already have one set up. Make sure you use a media player capable of utilizing subscriptions installed on a computer that has internet access. Leadership Network doesn't recommend or endorse any specific media player, but here are a couple of options. Most popular modern web browsers have a media subscription service built in. Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 and Firefox browsers both allow you to manage your subscriptions in your browser. Safari browsers also give you direct access to this feature by using Apple iTunes. Apple iTunes is a very popular example of a media player that will keep track of your media and subscriptions, and let you share your podcast with a portable media device.
Once you have your media player set up, you are ready to begin your subscription. If you want to use your browser to subscribe to a podcast, simply click the subscription link and your browser will guide you through the process. If you'd prefer to use iTunes or another stand-alone media player, often you can just "click-and-drag" the subscription link from your browser window into your media player window to set up the subscription.
Ready to give it a try? Here are the media subscriptions offered by Leadership Network.
