Putting Together an Apple TV Program List (pt4)

How do I get stuff on this thing?

Hopefully for those of you that already know how to use iTunes, getting content downloaded is very familiar to you. This article is intended for those that are new to podcasting and using iTunes as their podcatcher (which they will have to do if they intend to use their Apple TV).

Getting Content

See my earlier articles for content. We are going to choose “Stranger Things” for an example.

There are two basic ways to subscribe to a podcast. I recommend trying them in this order.

Through iTunes 7.11
1. Open up iTunes and click on the iTunes Music Store tab located on the left hand column of iTunes.
2. Click the “Podcast” link on the left hand side of the store.
3. Type in “Stranger Things” into the Search bar located at the top right hand corner of iTunes.
4. The search should return “Stranger Things”.
5. Click on the “Subscribe” button. NOTE: These are FREE subscriptions. A lot people I talk to about podcasts tell me that they don’t want to pay for it (Apple makes the subscribe button look a lot like the purchase button). Rest assured, this is free.
6. In the left hand column of iTunes, you will see that a “Download” icon has appeared along with some spinning arrows. If you click on it, you will see the status of your download. Once the episode has downloaded, you will be able to see it in the “Podcast” directory located on the left column in iTunes.

That’s it, your podcast is ready to watch. Every time you hit the “refresh” button when you are in the podcast directory, it will check to see if there is a new episode. You can also automatically allow iTunes to check for new content. For now, you might want to just stick to manual refreshing. Your Apple TV will have the ability to automatically download new content so it will be waiting for you when are are ready to watch it.

Through a direct feed.
Some shows are not on iTunes. There are many reasons why (which we won’t get into), but here’s how to add the shows to iTunes.

Every podcast is delivered via an RSS feed. If you want to impress your friends, you can use this term. If you want to just get stuff on your computer, don’t worry about it. Different web browsers have different ways of accessing RSS feeds. Rule #1 in the podcasting world DON’T USE INTERNET EXPLORER (in fact, rule #2 of podcasting is don’t talk about Internet Explorer). If your are on a PC, use Firefox. If you are on a Mac, Firefox and Safari work well to get your feed info.

1. Do a Google search for “Stranger Things”. The top hit should be their website at www.strangerthings.tv. There should be a icon (either a orange symbol or a blue RSS logo) located on the right hand corner of the URL bar. This is the universal symbol for RSS feeds.
2. Click on that icon in the URL bar. The web page should look different (again depending on the browser).
3. Copy the new URL (usually right click and select copy).
4. Open up iTunes. Under the “Advanced” menu bar, choose “Subscribe to Podcast”. You will see a box open up. Paste your URL there.
5. ITunes will ponder it a second, and then you will notice the same “Download” folder will appear. You podcast will start to download.

Those are the two basic ways of getting podcast content into iTunes. Since I do not yet have an Apple TV, I really can’t show you how to get your content on your Apple TV. It appears that you will be able to sync your Apple TV much like your iPod.

Next we will talk about where podcasting is going in the future and what might be possible very soon.