Slate's audio offerings.

How To Receive Slate Podcasts

Load Slate onto your MP3 player.

Updated Tuesday, April 29, 2008, at 12:11 PM ET

RSS

We'll start with a few common shortcuts, for those who want to find our podcasts quickly. If you'd like a more comprehensive tutorial, scroll down.

You'll find all of our podcast feeds collected here, on Slate's iTunes home page. Or you can subscribe individually:

Slate V's Video Podcast:
iTunes ∙ RSS ∙ Slate V home page

Slate's Daily Podcast (a selection of stories, interviews, and our weekly political roundup):
RSS ∙ iTunes ∙ Odeo

Slate's Political Gabfest (a weekly discussion of politics with Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz):
RSS ∙ iTunes ∙ Political Gabfest Blog

Slate's Culture Gabfest (a weekly debate over culture both high and low with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner):
RSS ∙ iTunes ∙ Culture Gabfest Blog

Slate's Hang Up and Listen (a weekly sports podcast with Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin and Mike Pesca):
RSS ∙ iTunes ∙ HUAL Blog

Slate's Spoiler Specials ("postviews" of current movies with Dana Stevens and guests):
RSS ∙ iTunes ∙ Spoiler Special Archive

Related in Slate

Andy Bowers explains why even he—a 20-year radio veteran—has fallen for podcasting.

Slate's Audio Book Club (a monthly discussion of current and classic books):
RSS ∙ iTunes

Slate Poetry Podcast
(a weekly poem, usually read by the author)
RSS ∙ iTunes

DoubleX Podcasts
(a biweekly discussion of issues affecting women, featuring the editors of Slate's DoubleX blog)
RSS ∙ iTunes

The Root Podcasts
(regular podcasts from Slate's sister site The Root)
RSS ∙ iTunes

Click here for Slate's searchable podcast player

Tutorial:

Simply put, podcasting allows you to receive pre-recorded audio programs on your computer or MP3 player automatically. You decide which programs you'd like to get—they range from amateur audioblogs to professional radio programs—and then "subscribe" (for free) to those feeds. Your podcasting software will check periodically for any new audio files that become available and download those files to your computer—or directly to your audio player if you prefer. You can then carry hours of audio programming to help you through your commute, your work-out, or your downtime.

(NOTE: Podcasting is designed for use with broadband, or high-speed, Internet connections. Dial-up connections are too slow to download the large audio files.)

Here's a step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Download the Podcasting Software
If you already use Apple's free iTunes software (for Windows or Mac, Version 4.9 or later), just look for the Podcasts section of the iTunes Music Store. The software now supports one-click subscriptions to a growing number of free podcasts (here are the iTunes links for Slate's podcast home page, and our Daily Podcast).

You can also use the RSS feeds for any of the podcasts listed above to have the latest episodes sent directly to your favorite RSS reader or other RSS-compatible software.

Step 2: Choose Your Feeds
The software programs mentioned above include directories of podcasts, and the lists get longer by the day. One helpful list for discovering new podcasts is the iTunes Top 100 Podcasts. If you like the news and talk shows offered on public radio, check out these lists from NPR and KCRW.

Step 3: Subscribe
Again, if you're using iTunes, you can find all of Slate's podcasts here (or search for "Slate" within the iTunes Music Store), and then simply click "Subscribe." You can also manually paste a podcast feed's URL—also called the RSS or XML feed—into most programs (in iTunes, just open the "Subscribe to Podcast" section of the "Advanced" menu). For example, here's Slate's Daily Podcast: http://www.slate.com/podcast/.

And after you've given podcasting a try, send your thoughts or comments to . (E-mail you send may be quoted unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)