1 CHOOSE HOW YOU’LL LISTEN

You can listen to podcasts on a traditional desktop or notebook computer or on a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet. The latter is the more popular method, but the former is useful if you want to listen while you’re doing work.

Listening on a desktop or notebook is pretty straightforward — just find the podcast’s web page (assuming the podcast you want has it). Typically, there’s a player on the page and you an listen there in your web browser.

You also can use an app, such as Apple’s iTunes, which comes with the Mac and is available as a download for Windows. There are also quite a few Windows podcast apps you can download.

You have a slew of choices if you want to listen to podcasts on a smartphone or tablet. Apple’s iOS devices come with the Podcasts app included, but there are many others to choose from. The Apple app is simple and relatively easy to use and is a good way to get started with podcasts.

The Android mobile operating system doesn’t come with a built-in podcast player, though the Google Play Music app, which is bundled with many Android devices, recently added podcast support. It’s also possible the manufacturer who made your phone or tablet, or the phone carrier you use, may have included one. If not, there are quite a few available for Android.

On an iPhone or iPad, you can download a podcast app from the App Store. On an Android device, get them through the Google Play Store.

Once you’ve installed the app, you’re ready to find some podcasts.