Podcast Help

What is a podcast?

A podcast is an audio recording available via the internet, usually as an MP3 file. Grist's podcasts can either be played directly on the Grist website, on your computer's media player, or on your portable MP3 device. (For more info on podcasting in general, see Wikipedia.)

How do I listen to a Grist podcast?

There are three ways to listen to our podcasts -- all free.

1. The simplest way is to listen directly on Grist's podcast page by hitting the "play" icon on the light gray bar at the top of the page. (It's an embedded Flash player, in case you're interested.)
   
   
2. You can download an individual podcast to your computer by clicking on the "Download" button on the podcast page.
   
   You will either be asked what to do with the file (save it or open it), or it will begin playing within your preferred MP3 player. Once downloaded, you can either play it on your computer or transfer it to your portable MP3 player.
   
   
3. You can also subscribe to our podcast via an RSS feed; this is the most common method for listening to podcasts. Once you're subscribed, you'll be alerted each time a new podcast is available. In some cases (depending upon which program you use), new podcasts will be downloaded automatically when available.
   
   You will need to use a program or web service that can subscribe to our RSS feed. iTunes is one of the more popular programs. If you are already an iTunes user, you can easily subscribe to the Grist podcast by clicking here. For help using iTunes to play podcasts or subscribe to RSS feeds, visit the iTunes podcast page.
   
   If you're not an iTunes user, here are some other podcast-friendly programs you might want to check out: Juice, WinPodder, Odeo, and PodNova.
   
   To subscribe to the Grist podcast, paste this link into the RSS or podcast reader of your choice:
   
   
   
   

How do I know when a new Grist podcast is ready?

You can check here each week, or you can subscribe to the podcast RSS feed, which will alert you each time a new podcast is available.

Previous Grist podcasts can be found in our archives.

Why the heck can't I get this thing to work?

Still baffled? Email us at podcasts@grist.org and we'll do our best to resolve your technical troubles.