The name Podcast is very misleading. First, the name "pod" implies that you need to buy an iPod to be able to listen to the files. This is far from true. Anyone with a computer and software like iTunes or iPodder can subscribe and listen to a podcast. Secondly, "cast" implies it is a live broadcast. While you may find a live podcast from time to time, it is more likely that you will be downloading prerecorded material.

A podcast is basically an RSS file, usually written in XML, that tells your iTunes/iPodder software when there is a new piece of multimedia (e.g., audio or video) ready to be downloaded.

From this website, you can directly download your podcast. However, JHU recommends that you subscribe to your lecture series. When a new lecture is available, the lecture podcast will automatically download into your podcast player(i.e. iTunes).