How do I subscribe and get the WCS podcast?
QUICK STEPS:
- Download free Podcast Software and install it on your computer
- Open the podcast software and add the following link as a podcast feed:
http://www.wcs.k12.mi.us/rss/rss.xml
- Use the software to subscribe to our feed and begin the downloads. Your podcast software can be set up to automatically download our audio content by making changes in the preferences. Follow the instructions for the software.
NOTE: In the Podcast Software you will have the option to: Download ALL Files, Most Recent, or Last Three. We recommend you set the software to Download ALL and then after it downloads all the files it will only look for the most recent.
MORE DETAILS
In order to recieve our news and shows from WCS, you must first be able to "read" our RSS feed. There are a variety of programs that allow you to do so, so take your pick. We recommend going to ipodder.org and downloading their free software. Here is a link from podcastalley.com for a list of other software packages. Some are for Window computers and some are for Mac OSX so be sure to find one compatible with your operating system.
Once you download and install the software, you must tell the software where to look for podcast information. On the district home page you will notice a podcast iconsimilar to the one at the top left of this page. If you click on that icon, it will take you to a page that has a bunch of XML text. You will need to ignore the text and copy the URL from your browser window. If you don't know what a URL is, it is the location that you are at on the web such as www.yahoo.com. You will need to select the entire URL from the window and hit "Control - C" at the same time on your keyboard to copy that information.
If copying the URL didn't make sense, just copy and paste this into your Podcast software:
http://www.wcs.k12.mi.us/rss/rss.xml
 Open you podcasting software and add a new feed. When it asks for the URL, hit "control - p" at the same time on the keyboard to paste the information into the podcast software.
Follow the steps for your podcasting software to begin downloading the WCS podcasts.
What is a Podcast?
Excerpt taken from wikipedia
What is a podcast?
"The term "podcasting" is a portmanteau of the words iPod and broadcasting. Although an iPod is currently the playback device of choice for many early adopters of podcasting, a portable music player is not required to take advantage of this method of content distribution. Podcasting is functionally similar to the use of timeshift-capable digital video recorders (DVRs), such as TiVo, which let users record and store television programs for later viewing.
A podcast is much like an audio magazine subscription: a subscriber receives regular audio programs delivered via the internet, and she or he can listen to them at her or his leisure.
Podcasts differ from traditional internet audio in two important ways. In the past, listeners have had to either tune in to web radio on a schedule, or they have had to actively download individual files from webpages. Podcasts are more flexible and much easier to get. They can be listened to at any time because a copy is on the listener's computer or portable music player, and they are automatically delivered to subscribers, so no active downloading is required."
How is podcasting different from streaming audio?
Podcasting is different from broadcasting and webcasting in that it "casts" audio not by a mechanism of centrally pushing audio out to listeners, but by the mechanism of the (distributed) listeners pulling (downloading) the audio files automatically. Podcasters publish (or "podcast") audio files, even in the likeness of radio shows, but it is the individual listener who initiates the "cast" through their subscription and automatic download of the audio program.
Podcasting also utilizes the combination of audio files and RSS to publish descriptive data and metadata associated with the audio. RSS files used in podcasting include dates, titles, descriptions, and links to audio files. These links to audio files within RSS, which are used by podcasting applications, are defined by the enclosure elements in RSS 2.0 and RSS 1.0 (RDF), and all of the original podcasting proper applications were built to work with RSS 2.0.
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