Did you ever talk with someone at a party or meeting and realize you didn’t know their name and probably should? And maybe it’s your third time meeting them and maybe they told you their name the first two times and you forgot it and you certainly can’t ask now because it’s just too late in the game? For some people I know, this is like podcasts. I have come to realize that a lot of people have heard about the podcasts and are interested in hearing the interviews we have been doing but simply don’t know how to access them. And they are embarrassed to admit that they don’t know an iPod from an eyeball and since they didn’t ask sooner, they feel it’s too late to bring it up now. Fear not, my somewhat technically challenged friend! If you’d like to listen to some great interviews with important people in chiropractic, alternative medicine and healthcare, here is my brief how-to manual entitled:
How to Listen to the On The Other Hand Podcast
First, let’s look at this misleading word ‘podcast’. The first mention of the term was in a 2004 Guardian newspaper article as one of several terms for portable listening to audio blogs suggested by Ben Hammersley. The possible names he suggested for this new medium alluded to “pod” from Apple’s “iPod” digital media player; and “cast” from traditional radio broadcasting. Herein lies one of the primary confusing points for the uninitiated: Podcast is named after Apple’s iPod but in no way does it mean that one must own an iPod (or even any portable digital media player) to hear a podcast.
A podcast is sort of like an on-demand version of internet radio. And kind of like a DVR or TiVo, you can select what episodes you want to listen to, when and for how long without regard to when they are broadcast. You can listen on a portable media device (like an iPod or MP3 player) or directly on your computer. You can even listen in your car using a burned CD! There are so many easy ways to listen to podcasts, you just might kick yourself for not doing it sooner. Here are 5 ways to hear our show:
(1) Direct Player
The episodes for our show, OnTheOtherHand, can be played directly on your computer by going to the hosting website here. Each episode has a little built-in media player. You just click the little play button and listen away! Super simple!
(2) Download
Once you are on the podcast host website find the episode you want to hear and click “download” at the bottom of each episode description. Then you can save that audio file (it is in MP3 format) and play it at your leisure on your computer — or –
(3) Burn that MP3 to a CD and play it on any CD player — or –
(4) Copy the MP3 onto any portable digital media player — or –
(5) Already have iTunes and an iPod? Use the Apple iTunes software which is free and makes it really easy to subscribe to podcasts. Using iTunes, you can play episodes on your computer, sync them to your iPod and make sure any new episodes are automatically downloaded to your PC. Just go to the iTunes store, and in the search box type OnTheOtherHand. Scroll down until you see the icon for our program and click the subscribe button. You can even use iTunes if you don’t own an iPod — it’s a nice way to organize your music too.
There are literally at least a dozen other ways to listen but one of the above is sure to get you started. Once you’ve heard an episode, our podcast website has a place for listeners to leave comments about each episode and if you want, to enter into a discussion with other listeners. You can also rate our podcast on iTunes which is a huge help in boosting our exposure to new listeners.
See? Not so tough, right?
