In the UK last month, more than 1.4m adults listened to podcasts, according to BMRB, the internet monitor. For those of you who don’t know, a podcast is an audio file that you can download from the internet to enjoy on your computer or with an MP3 player, usually at no cost. These files can be a radio-style music or talk show, academic lecture, news bulletin or drama.

If you find a regular show that you like, you can subscribe to it and it will be automatically delivered to your hard drive whenever a new instalment is released.

The breadth of what’s available continues to grow rapidly – from football fans discussing their favourite teams to city guides for wannabe globetrotters – and last week the BBC announced it would be making a selection of its music shows available, for the first time, including its weekly chart rundown.

There’s a whole world of listening out there and technophobes need not worry – podcasting is easy.

GETTING STARTED
You’ll first need to download a program that will collect your podcasts and enable you to listen to them. Apple’s iTunes software, which is also used for managing music libraries, is the best tool for the job, and you can find it at tinyurl.com/ypt4xp. There is also a helpful guide here to get you started.

If you own an iPod, you can tell iTunes to automatically transfer a new podcast from your computer onto your player as soon as it arrives, providing your player is connected – a process known as synching. However, this function will not work automatically for any other brands of MP3 player. Instead you will have to manually copy the audio file onto your player after it’s delivered to your computer. For more information, see the BBC’s extensive guide at tinyurl.com/kt6y2.

FINDING SHOWS
There are a number of ways to find and subscribe to shows. The iTunes service lists around 100,000 different podcasts and you can scour through these using a search engine within the software (you have to be online for it to work). If you’re interested in Liverpool football club or something from the BBC, say, then simply tap that into the search engine and you will see what’s on offer.

Once you’ve found a programme you like, click the Subscribe button and it will be downloaded automatically whenever a new show arrives.

If you’d prefer to download a single episode rather than the whole series, click the Get Episode button next to the episode you want.

Alternatively, you may be on a specific site and find a podcast that takes your fancy. For instance, Times Online lists its podcasts at tinyurl.com/2l86ey. Underneath each one is an option to subscribe through iTunes, which you simply have to click.

While surfing the web, you may also come across a site containing a podcast that doesn’t have a link enabling you to subscribe to it in iTunes. However, this isn’t a problem. Every podcast carries with it a special code, known as a feed URL, which is normally listed with it and looks something like this – www.example.com/podcast.xml. If you want to subscribe, all you have to do is copy this code, and paste it manually into iTunes. This is explained in more detail at tinyurl.com/ysfgx9.

THE BIG PLAYERS
Now we get to what’s out there. Big players dominate the market in terms of popularity and the BBC’s selection (www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory) is now vast. It includes celebrities such as Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, as well as Mark Kermode’s film reviews and highbrow programming such as Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time.

America’s National Public Radio is similarly eclectic, featuring such treats as Second Stage, a show devoted to unknown bands, and Garrison Keillor’s daily poetry readings (tinyurl.com/abg9c). The New Yorker also hosts podcasts, including probably the best available analysis of the presidential campaign trail (tinyurl.com/2ntn9s).

Even book publishers are getting in on the act.

Penguin’s weekly podcast is more charming than polished, but it shows how companies are opening themselves up to their audiences, discussing the mechanics of what they do, and trying to connect with their customers (thepenguinpodcast.blogs.com).

AMATEUR HOUR
Of course, there are a growing number of amateur-produced efforts out there too, and there are podcasts to be found on all manner of subjects, from whisky (www.whiskycast.com) to coffee (www.coffeegeek.com).

At www.footballfancast.com, you will find regular fan-led discussions on the week’s football events. Television addicts ruminate over their favourite shows at www.thetvaddict.com, while those obsessed with Heroes, the American superhero drama, can sate their hunger for all the latest insider gossip about the plot and stars at www.podcastheroes.podomatic.com.

Petrolheads are catered for as well, in the form of the weekly shows at www.cartalk.com/content/showpodcast. You can find music you would never get from the mainstream broadcasters, be it funk at www.funkpod.co.uk or various experimental genres on offer at www.musicnerve.com. Science buffs (www.twis.org) and James Bond fans (www.commanderbond.net/article/2822) will also find podcasts aimed at them.

The list is, in fact, endless – try it for yourself with a Google search on a subject you like along with the word “podcast” as a search term.

AUDIO GUIDES
Podcasting also has some applications you couldn’t have predicted. Museums, for instance, have long provided audio guides to visitors and now you can download many of them as podcasts, to take along with your MP3 player. There is a selection listed at tinyurl.com/yryevr, which includes guides from the British Museum and Tate Modern, as well as giants from around the world, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Travel guides work similarly well and Rough Guides provides some good examples at www.roughguides.com/podcasts, including some spunky city guides. And for audio books why not head to www.librivox.org, where web surfers can upload files of themselves reading out their favourite tomes.

There are links to lessons in French, Spanish, Chinese, Italian and other languages at the Open Culture website, which is a resource run by academics (tinyurl.com/32op22). You can also learn about wine from www.winecast.net, listen to public lectures from Bath University, which recently analysed the science of the swerving free kick (www.bath.ac.uk/podcast), or calm your fevered brow with nononsense money advice from Motley Fool, which will also tell you why you fib about your salary (www.fool.co.uk/podcast).

GET IN ON THE ACT
If listening to all of these shows has inspired you to create your own podcast you can do this too – all you need is a computer, a microphone and an internet connection. The easiest way is to upload an MP3 file that you’ve created on a blogging site such as Blogger for other people to hear. There’s a detailed guide at tinyurl.com/7rnh3.

However, if you want to create a more sophisticated show that people can subscribe to, then you’ll need a little more technical nous. Podcasting Tools (tinyurl.com/yzlyxn) has all the information you need to get started, including how to make a sound file, find material for your show and let people know about what you’ve created.