Thanks to the magic of RSS, you can get each new episode of The Virtual Staffroom delivered directly to your podcatcher… no fuss, no muss! Then, whenever a new episode is released you dont have to do anything special to get it, it just appears magically on your computer (and then on your iPod if you have one)  See? Technology really IS just like magic!

The podcast feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheVirtualStaffroom

(If you’re an existing subscriber please note that this feed URL is new as of July 2010.  For a whole lot of really good technical reasons, this new one uses Google’s Feedburner service, and it replaces the old feed address. If you do have any problems with the old feed just update your subscription link to this new podcast feed URL)

Subscribing the easy way

The simplest way to subscribe is to find us in the iTunes Podcast Directory and just click the subscribe link.  Some people get worried about the word “subscribe”.  Despite the fact that it sounds like you’re buying something, subscribing to a podcast costs nothing.  The Virtual Staffroom is, and always will be, 100% free to subscribe and listen to.

This will add The Virtual Staffroom to your list of podcasts, download the most current episode, and then grab any new episodes as they get released.  Once you do this the first time you don’t have to think about it after that… it just happens. Too easy!  You can also download any past episodes just by clicking the Get button next to each one in the list.

The other way to do it

If you have trouble finding us in the Podcast Directory, or just prefer to subscribe directly in iTunes itself, simply go to the Advanced Menu and choose Subscribe to Podcast...  Paste in the URL mentioned above and click ok.  Done!  That was easy!

It’s a similar procedure for most other podcatchers, but drop me a line if you have trouble.  You can even subscribe in regular RSS readers such as Google Reader, but iTunes is generally the most popular way to do it.  Of course, there are other ways to listen, such as clicking on the little play button found with each episode on this website, but sitting in front of your computer is not usually the most convenient way to consume an audio podcast.  I highly recommend subscribing to the podcast feed and then syncing new episodes to your iPod, iPhone, Zune or other portable audio player.

Personally, I quite like iTunes because of the way it integrates nicely with the iPhone/iPod.  Because I mainly listen to podcasts when I’m doing other things like driving, walking or exercising (ha!) I find the seamlessness of iTunes with iPod to be a good thing.  However, if you’d like to try something else for collecting your podcasts, here are a few other good choices…

Whichever one you choose, these podcatchers will all grab the latest episode directly and automatically.

Then there’s the blog

The instructions above explain how to subscribe to the audio feed (which, presumably, is the bit you want since this IS a podcast!)  If you’d also like to subscribe to the blog feed so you get the latest show notes and links, etc, then you can subscribe using this link instead (or as well… then you’ll get both!)

The blog feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/vsr

However you decide to subscribe, I hope you enjoy the podcast and thanks for listening.

Chris