How to listen to Podcasts - Walks Around Britain

How to Listen to Podcasts

What is a podcast?

Put simply, a podcast is an radio programme which is produced on a regular basis which you can listen to over the internet by visiting a website or by subscribing using an app on your smartphone or program on your computer - making it possible for you to enjoy your favourite podcasts anywhere you like and at a time that is most convenient to you.

The simplest way to listen to podcasts is on a web browser like Chrome, Safari, Silk or Microsoft Edge. You can do this from a computer or from the web browser on your phone.

Find a website that has podcasts you like - our Walks Around Britain podcast is here.

Find the player on the page, check your device’s sound is on and click play to listen to the podcast.

When you subscribe to a podcast using an app or program, the new edition will automatically be available to your computer or smartphone whenever it is produced.

Listening on a computer

There are several ways you can subscribe to podcasts you like on a computer.

Firstly, there are many websites which collate podcasts together. These sites allow you to subscribe to podcasts once have an account with them - and they will then "grab" the latest edition of all the podcasts you've subscribed to so they are ready to listen to the next time you visit their site.

Castbox, Deezer, RadioPublic and Stitcher are a few of these sites - and they all offer apps for mobile devices too, meaning you can switch devices and always keep up to date.

Secondly, stand-alone programs for computers like iTunes and Spotify will also allow you to subscribe to podcasts and will fetch the latest edition for you. Again, they are also availlable as apps for mobile devices.

Listening on a phone / tablet

There are apps a plenty on all the major mobile operating systems - iOS, Android and Windows 10.

On iPhone and iPad, the most used app is Apple's own Apple Podcasts - which usually already installed on all devices. If you can't find it on your device, search your apps for ‘Podcasts’. If it’s not there, you can go to the app store to download it. Of course, whilst you are in the App Store, you might wish to use one of the many other apps - Castbox, Deezer, RadioPublic, Spotify and Stitcher are all available for iOS devices.

On Android, Google's own Google Podcasts is an excellent easy to use app. Unfortunately, it isn't always installed on Android devices, so you will probably need to download it from the Play Store here. Other apps such as Castbox, Deezer, RadioPublic, Spotify and Stitcher are all available for Android devices too.

There's far fewer options on Windows 10, so we'd suggest Spotify - it will sync with your Spotify account on other devices, and you don't have to pay to use it for podcasts.

What do I need?

You will need a computer that has access to the internet – so if you’re reading this, you probably have that! To listen to the shows when you’re out and about you’ll need any brand of MP3 player - e.g. an iPod, Creative Zen, etc - or your usual smartphone. It doesn't matter if you own an Apple computer or a Windows PC.

Finally you'll need to download some free Podcasting software – like iTunes - also known as RSS feed reader which will manage your podcasts for you. To use iTunes to subscribe to podcasts you will need to register with Apple, but you do not have to sign up for any emails and it's completely free.

Most podcasting software is available to download for free, including Apple's iTunes Software - (download iTunes here). There is other free Podcasting Software available from the following websites: iPodder Lemon, RSSRadio, BlogMatrix Sparks or Podfeeder. If you are using any of these for podcasting you simply need to cut and paste the RSS feed supplied into your software. Copy this link for our RSS feed.

If you use Yahoo you can click here to add our podcasts to your My Yahoo page.

What does the podcasting software/RSS reader do?

It searches for the latest edition of our podcast and automatically downloads it to a folder on your computer, ready for when you next plug in your iPod or other portable device. This means that you don't have to manually search & download for new programmes to download on this website.

Do I need an iPod?

You don't actually need a portable MP3 player or an iPod to listen to our podcast unless you want to hear them on the move. Any personal computer will do, as long as your personal computer has a soundcard, some speakers or a pair of headphones and an internet connection.
The advantage of transferring the podcast onto a portable player is that you can then listen to them on the move.

And more and more car audio systems have a USB connector, allowing you to download the podcasts in advance, transfer them to a USB stick and enjoy them whilst you are travelling. Or, why not wirelessly play podcasts from your smartphone using Bluetooth to your car audio system?

How else can I listen to your podcasts?

You can listen to our podcasts by visiting the podcast page on our website or on our AudioBoom page here.

You can also visit our blog, where each edition of the podcast has a dedicated Show Notes page – with information, photographs, short videos and links to relevant sites. To find each edition’s Show Notes, simply search for “Podcast Show Notes” on our blog.

Still having problems?

If you have not been able to resolve your podcasting issue via these FAQs, you can contact us here, where we’ll try to help you.