How to use the RSS feeds for Podcasts

What is an RSS feed? RSS stand for “Really Simply Syndication” and it is a way to have your computer automatically sync to blogs and other media sources that have content that is updated on a regular basis. When you “Subscribe” to a podcast or blog, your computer will automatically update the content when it is updated by the host site. So if you subscribe to one of our studies or our main TSF Feed, when we add something new it will automatically be updated on your computer and iPod.

We have put up this tutorial page for those of you who may have questions about how to subscribe to our podcasts. We will talk about the programs that you will need as well as two different ways to subscribe to our feeds.

What software will you need?

If you are reading this, you are already using a web browser. Many of you are probably using Internet Explorer, but we would recommend using another browser. Firefox is one of the best browsers available. It makes subscribing to RSS feeds much easier. You can download Firefox here.

The other program that we would recommend you download is iTunes. This is an easy program to use to subscribe to and manage all our feeds (and others). You can download iTunes here. We will be using these two programs in this tutorial.

Method 1

If you have downloaded Firefox, simply go to one of our RSS pages like the main TSF Feed in the menu above. Now click on the “Subscribe to this Feed” on the right hand side of the page:
Now you will be in the actual feed page. It should have “.xml” at the end of its URL (the web address at the tope of the page). If you are in Firefox, you should see a line at the top of the page that says “Subscribe to this feed using:” with a drop down menu box to the right. If this is the first time that you are subscribing, open the pull down box and choose iTunes as the application that you will use to get your feeds:
You can also check the box that says, “Always use iTunes to subscribe to podcasts.” Now click the “Subscribe Now” button and iTunes will open and start downloading the most recent podcast. Every time we update the Feed, it will automatically be added to your iTunes library.

Method 2

With this method you will just paste a web address directly into iTunes. You will start the same way. Go to one of our podcast pages and click on the “Subscribe” link. You will now see an RSS feed page just like before. When you look at the URL in the address bar it should look something like this: “http://www.tsfmemphis.org/tsf_feed/tsf_feed_files/TSF_feed.xml” The important thing to note is the “.xml” ending. All RSS feeds end in .xml. If it does not have .xml at the end iTunes will not recognize it as a feed. Copy this address; make sure you get it all.

Now open iTunes and go to the “Advanced” menu and pull down to the “Subscribe to Podcast...” option:
Now just paste the URL (address) of the RSS feed page in the dialog box that opens. The podcast feed should upload and begin downloading.

Well that is it. Our prayer is that you will be blessed as you seek to grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus through the resources that we offer.