How to Listen to Podcasts

Here’s our guide to listening to podcasts, depending on what device you’re using.

Mobile Phones

Download a podcast app, such as Spotify, TuneIN, iHeart, Stitcher, Overcast or Castbox. If you have an iPhone, the Apple Podcasts app is pre-installed, or you can download a different one.

Open the podcast app and you will likely see a catalog of shows to browse, including new and trending shows.

You can also search for a podcast by name. Not sure what to search for? Podcasts by Federated Media has more than 40 shows to choose from.

Once you find a podcast you like, click on it and listen to an episode or two. If you like it enough to listen to it regularly, find the “Subscribe” or “Follow” button so that you’ll automatically be notified when new episodes are available. Depending on your app, you can go into the settings and choose to have episodes automatically downloaded or marked available for streaming when they are released.

Computer

On a computer, many podcasts have their own websites with players so listeners can stream them directly. Simply search the name of the podcast you are looking for in your preferred search engine. Podcasts by Federated Media shows all have their own pages where you can learn more about the show and stream it online.

You can also use a podcast directory that has a web presence, such as Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIN and iHeart. Visit the site of your choice to browse shows and search for podcasts by name. All Podcasts by Federated Media shows are also available on these platforms.

If you have Spotify downloaded as a program on your computer, you can open the program to browse and search for podcasts, just like you would on the website.

If you are using an Apple computer, you likely already have iTunes or Apple Podcasts already installed as a program on your computer (depending on which version of MacOS you are using). Open this program and you can browse new shows, search for specific shows by name and listen.

Smart Speakers

Listening to a podcast is fairly simple on a smart speaker like an Amazon Echo, Google Home or Apple HomePod. 

Amazon Echo devices automatically stream from TuneIN, so if you just want to listen to the latest episode of a particular show, you can say “Alexa, play (podcast name)” and the device will play the most recent episode from TuneIN.

You can also choose to connect your Amazon Echo to Apple Podcasts or Spotify through your Alexa app. Click on Settings, then scroll down to find Music and Podcasts to change the default service for podcasts. Then when you say “Alexa, play (podcast name)” the device will pull from that service.

You can also use a third party podcast skill such as Stitcher, AnyPod, or Pocket Casts. Simply say “Alexa, play (podcast name) on Pocket Casts” and the device will pull the feed from that skill.

Your Google Home device always streams podcasts from Google Podcasts. All you need to do is say, “OK Google, play (podcast name)” and the device will play the latest episode. You can also cast your audio from your preferred podcasting app onto your Google Home speaker. However, if you do that, you will not be able to use voice commands to control the audio.

Apple HomePod is similar to Google Home in that it will only stream podcasts from its own service, in this case Apple Podcasts. All you need to do is say “Hey Siri, play (podcast name).” Sometimes you may have to include “podcast” after the name of the show.