Thank you! I always wondered how this worked. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan Mosen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 4:05 PM Subject: [Braillenote] The BrailleNote and Podcasts, here's how
Using your BrailleNote to hear Podcasts What is a Podcast? A Podcast is a sound file that is published to the Internet for listeners to download and transfer to a portable MP3 player. Users generally do this by using a Podcast receiver, a piece of software that runs on a PC. The receiver periodically checks for new editions of any Podcast a user has subscribed to, and downloads it. Users with a broad band connection often let their Podcast receivers download content at night, meaning that they have fresh content available to them in the morning. There is a huge variety of Podcasts out there, with programming produced by amateurs and broadcasting professionals alike. Podcasting, despite what the name might imply, does not require an iPod. In fact, you can take Podcasts with you to listen on your BrailleNote. What you will need To listen to Podcasts on your BrailleNote, you'll need: 1. A PC. 2. A Podcast receiver. This is software that runs on your PC. The most popular Podcast receiver is iPodder. The latest version of the software can be downloaded at http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php. This software is accessible and fully featured. If you prefer something with fewer features but designed specifically for blind people, you may like to take a look at Accessible Podcaster. The latest version can be downloaded from http://www.webbie.org.uk/download.htm 3. A Means of transferring content from your PC to your BrailleNote. This might be Microsoft ActiveSync, or a CF card reader. 4. A compact flash card or some kind of external storage for your BrailleNote. Finding Content The first thing you need to do is find Podcasts to which you want to subscribe. Some Podcasts are exceptionally well produced and informative. Others are somewhat self-indulgent and of dubious technical quality. But there are thousands to choose from. ACB Radio for example now offers all its ACB Radio mainstream programming as Podcasts, meaning you can download the day's programming and take it with you on your BrailleNote. iPodder, and all good Podcast receivers, allow you to connect to directories from within the application. These directories maintain lists of Podcasts, and allow you to browse for and subscribe to a Podcast feed. Once you subscribe to a feed, your Podcast Receiver will check for new content every time you ask it to, or if you have the software's scheduler turned on, at the pre-determined intervals you have specified. Note, be sure that you have checked your Podcast Receiver's preferences so that you know where on your PC the Podcasts are being downloaded to. Once you have located, subscribed to, and downloaded Podcasts, you are ready to transfer them to your BrailleNote. Before you do so, be sure to check that the Podcast is in a file format that your model of BrailleNote supports. Most Podcasts are in MP3 format, but a few are not. BrailleNote PK will play WindowsMedia format, but the other models will only play MP3. For each Podcast you're subscribed to, your Podcast Receiver will have created a folder under the main directory on your PC you specified for downloading Podcasts to. You may simply go into windows Explorer, choose the main Podcast download directory you specified in the preferences of your Podcast Receiver, press control+A to select all folders, and control+C to copy to the clipboard. If you have a compact flash card reader, simply paste these folders onto the CF card. If you are using ActiveSync, make sure the connection to your BrailleNote is Active, log onto a storage or compact flash card inserted in your BrailleNote, and paste the folders. Note that the transfer using this latter method could take a long time. That's all there is to it! You will have a range of audio programming you can take with you anywhere on your BrailleNote. And remember, the Media Player in all BrailleNote Models remembers your place in the last media file you played, so if you need to stop listening to an interesting programme for a while, the BrailleNote will be able to pick up from right where you stopped. Further Information on Podcasting Jeff Bishop has established an excellent e-mail list on Podcasting, designed specifically for blind people. To subscribe to this, simply send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
