It’s sort of embarrassing how the Podcasts have invaded our home like This Week in Travel and Rolf Potts Deviate.
Sainted Husband got a Shuffle when an in-law upgraded, we got our teen daughter a Nano for her birthday, then I pouted so much that I got one for Mother’s Day.
Although I use mine extensively to keep from losing my mind during today’s abysmal air travel experience, I have yet to download travel-related podcasts like audio tours.
Since I’m heading back to Chicago for my favorite blogging conference, I decided to experiment, and check out a download or two on my iPod.
I’m new at this, so I went super-basic….I Googled “Chicago travel podcast.”
Promising returns included The Amateur Traveler Chicago podcast, featuring Mark Peacock from Travel Commons to talk about the city. However, when I did my thing at “click here to download,” my laptop booted up the QuickTime player (which I thought was only for movies.)
The audio played just fine from the box on my laptop screen, but how to put the blasted thing onto my own iPod had me flummoxed (and I like to think I’m not a total tech idiot.) Right click, fiddle, poke….nothing.
So, I went on a hunt on the Amateur Traveler site for a tab labeled something like, “What To Do If You’re All Messed Up And Can’t Download Stuff Without Getting a Giant Blue Q.”
When I tried “Subscribe in iTunes,” my iTunes software booted up and I landed on the Amateur Traveler Podcast page in the iTunes Store, where I could download to my heart’s content.
Well, alrighty then.
The same thing happened when I tried to download the Indie Travel Podcast’s Planning a Road Trip episode; I got The Blue Q. When I punched the site’s widget labeled “Free Video and Podcast in iTunes,” I landed in the Indie Travel Podcast iTunes store, no problem.
Now, you’d think I’d take a hint and stay in the iTunes store and use their Search box to locate travel podcasts. I tried that, but I don’t have confidence that I can actually find relevant material there, because when I searched for “Chicago travel podcast” directly in iTunes search, nothing came up from Amateur Traveler.
[Insert one of my salty Navy expletives here.]
So, readers, where do YOU go for quality travel-related podcasts and audio tours (and what’s with the danged Blue Q?)