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Everything You Need to Know About Enhanced Podcasts
What Is an Enhanced Podcast?
Enhanced podcasts have the following features and requirements not found in a regular podcast:
- Require the use of iTunes version 4.9
- May have "chapters" like a DVD which allow you to instantly jump to another section of the podcast
- May have cover art that changes throughout the podcast which can be used to visually illustrate the podcast
- May display live web links in the album art window
- May be movie files that the viewer watches like a normal movie
How Do I Play an Enhanced Podcast?
The simplest way to experience an enhanced podcast is to drag the purple circular "antenna" in the gray sidebar on the right (on the main Podcast Central window) into the main window in iTunes. You must have iTunes 4.9! Once our podcast feed is on the iTunes store, simply clicking on the purple circular "antenna" in the gray sidebar on the right will take you to all of our podcasts. You will no longer need to drag the picture into iTunes or even have iTunes running. (You will have to have it installed on your machine.)
The first podcast will immediately start downloading. You will see a small orange circle spinning next to the name of the podcast. When it has finished downloading, simply double click on it to play it. (You can also click on it once and then click on the large iTunes play button at the top.) To download additional podcasts, click on the word "Get" by the grayed-out name. The podcast will then immediately start to download. Double click on it to play it.
Where Are the "Chapters" in the Extended Podcast?
Extended podcasts have chapters, much like a DVD, that allow the listener to immediately navigate to any section of the podcast desired. The chapters icon only appears when you begin listening to an enhanced podcast that actually has chapters! You can see where the chapters icon is located in the picture below.
When you click on it while listening to our first enhanced podcast, this is what happens (Click on this thumbnail to enlarge it.):
By clicking on any of these seven chapters, iTunes will jump directly to that section of the podcast.
How Do I Make the Cover Art Change?
If you do not see the cover art changing, follow these simple steps:
- Not all enhanced podcasts may have changing cover art
- Click on the [Edit] menu in the top menu bar and select "Show Artwork"
- Make certain that the words appearing just above the artwork window say "Now Playing"
- If it says "Selected Song" (as pictured below), click on those words once to change them to "Now Playing"
- If you click on the artwork itself, it will open up in a larger window that will not change
- Live web links may appear throughout the podcast if the creator put them in the enhanced podcast
Below is a picture of the cover art section of the iTunes window. Did you know you can increase or decrease the size of this window? See if you can figure out how.
How Do I Make iTunes play a Movie?
Presently none of our podcasts contain movie files. Those that do simply play the movie in the cover art window when you play them! Podcasts that are actually movie files have a tiny movie icon on the right hand side of their name.
Posted by Dr. Tyson
