There are three ways to listen to all the Shedcasts:

1. Listen directly on the computer – make sure you are logged in, and go to each episode post

2. Use the History of England Podcast App – The App allows you to view and listen to all the members podcasts, neatly divided into their series so you can see what you’ve got easily. Click here for Instructions on how to download and use the App. You can also access the History of England podcasts without adverts.

3. Use your existing podcatcher – by using the password protected members’ feed address – see the detailed instructions below. You can get access to the History of England itself without adverts.

Setting up members’ shedcasts on your existing podcatcher

You can use the same podcatcher App you currently use for all the podcasts you listen to. To do so, you need to set up a separate ‘feed’ or podcast on the podcatcher for the shedcasts using a specific address  – and the instructions for the most popular podcatchers are described below. The URL for shedcasts is

https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members

Setting up an advert free version of the History of England and Anglo Saxon England on your existing podcatcher

Don’t forget that you can also listen to the free History of England on your podcatcher without adverts. To do this, you need to set up another ‘feed’ on your podcatcher, using the same process as for the members’ shedcasts, but using a different address. The URL for:

The History of England advert free is

https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/blog/category/podcast/feed

For the History of Anglo Saxion England advert free is

https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/blog/category/anglosaxons/feed

 

Add the Members’ shedcasts to your favourite Podcatcher

Remember  – the feed address for Members’ shedcasts is: https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members

1) Apple devices

Apple podcast App

  • Apple app set upStart by opening your Podcasts App. Unless you do that, you have no chance.
  • In iOS 10 and earlier: click on My Podcasts, then press the + button in the upper left hand corner and select Add Podcast

In iOS version 11+, Select ‘Library’, then select ‘Edit’ in the top Right hand corner and then ‘Add a podcast by URL’

In ioS 14, select ‘library’ and then select ‘Shows’ and then hit the three dots in the top right hand corner. That will give you an option ‘Add show by URL’

  • Copy https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members into the field. It’s a pain, especially if your fingers are as fat as mine, but you only have to do it once. You need the full thing, including the https://bit, sadly. Then chose subscribe. (note here: some have found they needed to add the ‘wwww.’ bit to the start of the URL. They shouldn’t need it – but try that if it doesn’t work)
  • You then get a dialogue box asking you to sign in.  At this point you enter the Username and Password that you have received/chose when you became a member on the website.
  • Enter your username (or email address) and password when prompted.

And you are away.

Note: Leigh Ann was struggling to set up a new feed, and read an article that advised putting /feed at the end of the URL – and it worked!

Also note: Andrew on his iphone11 and apple podcast needed to include the www at the beginning of the feed urls

Overcast also has the option to add ‘premium feeds’, and with the latest version it is very straightforward.

  • Hit the ‘+’ sign within the app
  • Select “add url”
  • tap “use password”
  • It will then helpfully take you through a process of adding the URL https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members, adding the Username and Password.

PocketCasts

See below under Android – it’s available in both formats

Outcast and the Apple watch App

Outcast Apple Watch AppThis is a slightly different process, similar to Pocketcasts; you need to enter your username and password, as set by you as part of the membership sign up process to the History of England membership  on the website

  1. Go to ‘Browse’, at the bottom of the screen, then then hit ‘+’ at the top right hand corner
  2. You will then see the a dialogue box – select ‘Add URL’ and you will get the Add Feed dialogue box
  3. Enter your feed URL in this format;
    https://[username]:[password]@thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members
    Replace [username] and [password] with your credentials – you do NOT need the square brackets
  4. The App will search, find it, and you will have a list of episodes.

James very kindly also let me know that  if your logon is your email address, then the @ in the address should be replaced with %40.

I am sorry to say, however, that seems seems to be a one-time process only – so every time you go back in, you have to go through the whole palaver again. I am sorry about that – I am trying to convince them there must be a better way!

I should note that the highly qualified History of England technical team (my brother and I) have tried this on the  Downcast, and RSSRadio and both work fine!

 iTunes 

  • Go to iTunes
  • Have a look at the Menu (file, edit, song, view…all that sort of thing. If you’ve managed to hide the menu bar, I am told that pressing the CTRL and B keys together should then reveal the menu)
  • Then select ‘File’, and select ‘Subscribe to Podcast’
  • At which point a dialogue box will magically appear. Into this box you will type or paste https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members
  • Select OK (you can at this point also say a silent prayer, with your fingers crossed, facing northwards with your head turned slightly to the left. I find it helps.)
  • Another dialogue box will appear. It tells you that you that Podcast authentication is required, which is passive aggressive at the very least. At this point you enter the Username and Password that you have received/selected when you became a member on the website.

And that’s it, you are in business. You should be able to download episodes, listen, transfer it to your mobile device, just like any other podcast. Easy peasy, squeeze the lemon.

2) Android and the variety of devices and Apps

I cannot sadly try them all, since there are billions of them; but here are some of the most popular. The principles are the same as for the Apple devices above.

  • First thing is to find out if your app can handle password protected feeds. If you are not sure, ask the interweb search engine that you use, and search on your app and password protection – it should tell you.
  • From there, you need to type/paste https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members into the URL field and then enter your username or email and your password when prompted.
  • Gareth noted that some Apps don’t have a ‘+’ button, so you may need to paste the URL (https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members) into the search box

Hopefully, easy peasy squeeze the lemon.

  • but if not, try using this URL for the feed https://[your username]:[your password]@https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members and put your username and password in the appropriate bracketed sections (not with the brackets, obviously)
  • If that doesn’t work, you can try online forums. Or come to the History of England Podcast group and ask around.

Andy has very kindly helped out (snaps for Andy) and come up with fab instructions for the most popular ones according to a quick and dirty poll on the History of England Facebook site

Beyond Pod

  1. Use + Add Feed at the bottom of the “My Feeds” list in the left pop out menu
  2. Click the manual add icon in the top left of the screen*
  3. Type or paste the feed address into the top form field labeled “Feed Address
    https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members
  4. Scroll the screen until you see the “advanced settings” button at the bottom and click the advanced settings button
  5. Fill in a name in the feed name input
  6. Scroll down to the Feed authentication section
  7. Enter your member name in the “feed user name” input
  8. Enter your password into the “feed password” input
  9. Click the “save” button in the top right of the screen

*Rob reports that on his version, it’s slightly different; in his version there is no button as described in (2) above.  Instead he had to tap a button at top right (an arrow pointing into a box) and then select “enter feed address”.

Another handy tip from Andy, just to note; he’s found that Beyondpod only works if you download the EPs – Steaming apparently doesn’t work so well.

Doggcatcher

  1. Click the menu icon (three vertical dots) to display the action menu
  2. Select “Add feed”
  3. Select “RSS URL” 4th from the top in the Add Feed menu
  4. Enter the feed url in the RSS URL input
    https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members
  5. Scroll all the way to the bottom and find the Username and Password input fields
  6. Enter your member name in the user name field
  7. Enter your password in the password field
  8. Click the OK button at the bottom of the screen

PocketCasts

Alexander uses the ‘amazing’ PocketCasts, which in our little survey true enough was the 3rd most popular.  Pocket Casts does not formally support paid and password protected feeds, but some folk have managed to use it – one of them, Alexander, has very kindly sent instructions, along with the reassuring comment that it’s ‘dead easy’.

  1. Go to Podcasts, hit ‘+’
  2. Click on the search icon
  3. Enter your feed URL in this format;
    https://[username]:[password]@thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members
    Replace [username] and [password] with your credentials.
  4. Click to add, and enjoy!

Thanks, Alexander!

Then Erick also got in touch – he had a problem. But got round it when instead of the ‘@’ in his email, he’s used ‘its coding’ – %40 (its coding is in ‘ ‘ because I don’t understand what it means. But it worked for Erik).

However, Gareth also tells me that there is no ‘+’ on the latest version of PocketCasts for Android; so in this case you need to paste the URL into the search box.

Becky found a different process worked for her, and kindly wrote it up. So, If the steps from Alexander don’t work:

1.  Use a web browser to go to: pocketcasts.com/submit
2.  Enter your podcast feed URL in this format:  https://[username]:[password]@thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members
Replace [username] and [password] with your credentials.
3.  Select “Private” and click “Submit”
4.  If it finds that URL, it will provide you with a private link with a format of: https://pca.st/private/[lots of numbers and letters with dashes]
5.  If it doesn’t find that URL, check for misspellings.  Note that Pocket Casts does not want an https:// to immediately precede thehistoryofengland.co.uk in the URL; https:// should only be at the very beginning of the URL.
5.  There is a button next to the private link to “Open in Pocket Casts”.  However, if you are on a laptop/desktop, clicking that button will take you to the web player for Pocket Casts, which is only available in the paid version (Pocket Casts Plus).  If you have Pocket Casts Plus, this button may work for you; I haven’t tested this.
6.  If you have the free version of Pocket Casts, go to the Pocket Casts app on your phone, go to Discover, and enter the private link created in Step 4 in the “Search Podcasts” box.  Pocket Casts should find that link and provide a button to subscribe.

Thanks Becky!

Podcast Addict – We had difficulty with this to be honest; but there is an encouraging message on its community site which says the below, and Simon tells me that it works – so that’s good:

If you’re running Podcast Addict v3.8 or later Press the main screen + button to add a new podcast. Then select the ‘RSS feed’ option. You will then be able to enter the podcast RSS feed url. You will have to check the ‘Authentication’ checkbox and enter your login/password.  After validation the app will update the podast. You can change the login/password at any time by long pressing on the podcast, then selecting ‘Custom Settings’ and finally ‘Edit podcast url’.

Podkicker: Member Cormorant kindly tells us this works fine; here’s how to do it:

  • Choose ‘Podcasts’ and then ‘Add’
  • At ‘RSS’ type the url https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members
  • tick the “password protected” box
  • enter user & password
  • hit “subscribe” & Bob is your father’s brother

3) Windows & Google

3.0 Google Podcasts

Google podcasts claim to support paid-for feeds. To access the feature, tap over to the activity tab in the bottom right-hand corner and slide over to the Subscriptions tab; then tap the plus symbol or try clicking on the three little dots top right hand corner. You’ll then be prompted/had an option to add by RSS feed.

There is a good article on how to connect a ‘premium’ feed to Google Podcasts.

 

3.1 Windows Phone 8 and 8.1

The default podcast app for Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 may not support password-protected podcast feeds, or even rss podcast feeds without a password. I recommend that you buy the Podcast Lounge app. It is $2.99 in the Store.

Assuming you have Podcast Lounge, you can add the feed by doing the following:

  • Open the Podcast Lounge app and swipe left once to the screen that says “now playing”, “current playlist”, “play history’, etc. Tap “tools, then “add by url”. Tap the “+” sign at the bottom of the screen, and then type or paste the RSS URL there: https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members
  • Tap the add button, and then type in your username and password.
  • The podcast will be listed on the “my urls” page. Tap it, and you’ll be taken to the “program” page. At the bottom of the screen is a little star icon with a “+” on it. Tap that, and it will be added to your favorites, automatically refreshed, and available for your listening pleasure!
  • I leave it to you to figure out how the app works in general, but it’s straightforward.

3.2 Windows 10 Mobile

The default podcast app supports password-protected podcast feeds, and works pretty well, though it will annoyingly ask you for the username and password every time it tries to refresh the feed.

  • Open the Podcasts app, then swipe over to the “Get Podcasts” screen. Type or paste the RSS URL there: https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/feed/podcast/members
  • The Overview page for the History of England Members only feed will appear. Tap the “+” icon at the bottom to subscribe to the feed.
  • The podcast will be listed on the Favorites screen, and you can also find it under “audio’ on the Collection screen. Every time the app searches for new episodes of your favorite podcasts, it will ask you for the username and password, so I recommend you choose something that is quick to type.