simplify podcast subscriptions

As podcasting is creeping into the mainstream, I think it is getting more important to simplify the process for newcomers. I had been using the standard orange XML icon on the top of all my podcasts and indicating next to each mp3 that these were part of a podcast feed. That was working well for me until I got a comment last week that it was not clear that this represented a podcast.

This is what I have done to make things clearer on all my podcasts:

1. I changed the orange "XML" icon to a "PODCAST" icon from all my podcast feeds.

2. I created an icon with the words "iTunes podcast" that gives single click subscription to iTunes. Free custom icons can conveniently be made at FeedForAll. The link to the single click subscription can be obtained by right clicking on the podcast feed in iTunes and selecting "copy iTunes Music Store url".

3. I kept the "Subscribe with Bloglines" button that gives single click subscription of the podcast shownotes or lecture notes.

Although I have some reservations about iTunes, especially with their control of file types that can be podcast, I think the single click subscription to podcasts is a huge benefit to novice users.