The following are the absolute minimum requirements for the Live and On Demand Player to work with recommendations:
PC Operating System: Windows XP (SP2 or higher) or 2000 or Vista
Browser: Internet Expoler 7 or higher (may work with 6 on XP) or FireFox 2.5 or higher (3 highly recommended) or Safari 3.2.2

Mac Operating System: X 10.4 Tiger or higher
Browser: Firefox 2.5 or higher (3 highly recommended) or Safari 3.2.2 or Opera 8.0 or higher

Linux: Currently Adobe Flash Plugin's are not compatible. We apologize for this but it is out of our control. Hopefully Linux and Adobe will be able to fix this in the future. Please listen to the streams on the Listening Resources page.

In Addition: minimum Flash Player 7 must be installed on your computer. Click Here to get Flash Player
If you download the Flash Player and it still is not working you will need to check the following questions below to trouble shoot the problem you are experiencing.
If you are using FireFox you need to make sure you are updated to the most recent version of FireFox to insure that you have the proper plugins for your browser. To make sure your FireFox is updated you can go to the Help drop down and select "check for updates", then download and install any updates.

If you do not have these minimum requirements our Player will not work and we recommend you use the Archives. We are sorry but we unable to provide help to those who do not meet these minimum requirements.

You may have a Windows Media Player (WMP) plug-in installed that allows Flash files (.flv) to be played in WMP and/or have configured Flash files to be opened with WMP.
On a Windows XP or 2000 operating system, to disassociate Flash files from WMP:
1) Right click on the Start button, select "Open".
2) Select "Tools" from the menu, then select "Folder Options..."
3) Click on the "File Types" tab.
4) In the Registered File Types list, scroll to find "FLV" and click on it to select it. If "FLV" is not in the list, then Flash files are not configured to be viewed with WMP.
5) Below the Registered File Types List, the file type details are displayed. If "Opens with: Windows Media Player" is displayed, then Flash files are configured to be viewed with WMP.
6) While "FLV" is selected in the list, click on the delete button just below the list, then click the "Close" button. Flash files are now disassociated from WMP.
7) Please reboot your system before attempting to retry the Live or On Demand Player.

For Windows Vista this website provides step by step instructions and nice images to guide you through the process. http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6172036.html

It is best if you get the streams from the Listen Live Player by clicking on the button at the bottom of the player that says "Dial Up Users Click Here"
The button will change to tell you to click play to get the low bandwidth streams. You will know that it is set to 16k when you see this message. If you cannot get the player to work you can get the low bandwidth streams on the Listening Resources page.

We are sorry but we are unable to provide support to Dial Up users. As dial up connections are spotty at best the technology is not supported well on connections under 56K.
Most Dial Up connections are running around 43k or less and this will cause interruptions to the streams. This is not a new issue and has nothing to do with the player.
The Live Streams are available in 16k by clicking the "Dial Up Users Click Here" button at the bottom of the player. This turns the streams down to 16Kb. If you still have problems connecting you should try using the low bandwidth links on the Listening Resources page.
If those do not work for you, we highly recommend you use the Archives to listen to the shows.

Choose the program you want to download archives for, select the month and year you want to get. Once you are on the page with all the links for the days and hours, select one of the links, right click (mac-control click) and choose one of the following: IE "save target as", FireFox "save link as", Safari "download linked file", then select the location on your computer to save the file to (mac users should find the downloaded files in their download directory).

A podcast is an audio file (MP3) that is available for downloading online. You can download it to your computer using special software that plays podcasts, or download it to your personal digital audio player (i.e. iPod, iriver, Creative Zen Touch, etc.). Podcasting is like "radio on demand"-you listen to what you want, when you want to hear it. Podcasting is a form of audio broadcasting on the Internet. The reason it became linked with the iPod in name was because people download podcasts (audio shows) to listen to on their iPods. However you don't have to listen to podcasts only on iPods; you can use your computer with some music software such as Windows built-in Media Player or Winamp, or other portable music players (iPod competitors) such as Creative Zen or iRiver. It really doesn't matter, as long as you have some way to play music on your computer or an MP3 Player you will be able to listen to podcasts.

If you want to listen to a podcast away from your computer, you will need to transfer them to a portable media device. If you want to listen on your computer, you need to download and install Podcast Receiver software to your computer. But either way you will need to first download the podcast to your computer You can use the latest version of Apple's iTunes (which has the software built in), or other services such as Miro or Juice (formerly iPodder) to manage your podcast subscriptions. GCN's PodCasts work best with FireFox and Internet Explorer 8 and eliminate the need for a podcast receiver.

It's all about having the files come to you through syndication instead of you going to the files through search. To get our podcasts you use a software program called a Podcast Receiver. Sometimes this is also called a podcast aggregator (but again this is geek speak). Just know that Podcast Receiver and aggregator mean the same thing. It's the software that you use to download and receive podcasts. The Podcast Receiver regularly checks the feed for new content that has been posted. When a new podcast show is found, it's downloaded. The next time you plug your MP3 player into your computer, the new podcasts shows are synced by your media player. When you subscribe to a magazine a copy arrives in your mailbox every time a new issue is released. Subscribing to a podcast is just the same, but instead of a mailbox, you have an aggregator - a program that runs on your computer and automatically downloads your favorite podcasts making them ready for you to listen to.

Now You Can Listen to Exactly What You Want, When You Want and How You Want! With podcasts, you're in control. Podcasts are also like Tivo because you're in control of when you listen to it. You can rewind a podcast. You can play it over and over. You can pause it. You can store it wherever you want. You can delete it when you want. Podcasts give you the control. You can listen to podcasts on your computer, burn them to CD or transfer them to your MP3 player. You're in control of when and how you listen. Compare that to listening to the radio. Big corporations decide what you get to listen to and when you listen to it. It's all controlled by what will make them money. Now you can have radio your way. Unlike streaming audio, you can take a podcast with you. To listen to streaming content you're tied to a computer with a fast Internet connection. You're not limited to how many times you can download a podcasts or how many times you can burn it. It's not limited to only playing in certain media players.

You need to a have a Podcast Receiver software on your computer in order to download a podcast or have a browser like FireFox or Internet Explorer 8. We highly recommend using FireFox or Internet Explorer 8 for our Podcasts. We only recommend these because of their ease of use and options they have available for you. To have it automatically downloaded for you every time a new episode becomes available follow the instructions of the Podcast Receiver you use.

Click on any of the images below to get to the download site for the reciever you want.

Step by Step Instructions for downloading GCN's Pod Casts for Juice, iTunes, Firefox, and Internet Explorer 8 Users:
FireFox and Internet Explorer 8 Users:
1. Click on the PodCast button for the show that you want then...
FireFox users- Click Subscribe Now, Also make sure that the "Subscribe to this PodCast using Live Bookmarks" is selected (Click here for more information)
IE 8 users- Click Subscribe To This Feed (click the "Learn More About Feeds" for more information)

Juice Instructions:
1. Launch Juice
2. Click on the Subscriptions tab.
3. Add podcast feeds.
Right click the Podcast button on the GCN Website and select copy shortcut, click the green plus button on Juice, right click and select paste this link in the URL box, Podcast feeds will have a orange dash icon next to them. When you select a feed, its URL will appear at the bottom of the window. Add the feed to your subscriptions by clicking Add. It should show up in the main subscriptions window with state "newly-subscribed". 4. Set scheduler options
Still on the Subscriptions Tab
click on the 7 icon that looks like a calendar and a clock with a white box,
click "enable scheduler" click the "check at regular intervals" select "12 hours"
Finally, click "Save" to apply the settings
5. Set your preferences. In the General Tab, select the "continue running in the background when I close the main window" This will make sure it keeps downloading for you.
In the Threads Tab, select "8" maximal threads for feedscanning per session and "5" maximal downloads per session
In the Player Tab, select a player that you use on your computer
6. Walk away
Now your podcast will be ready for you to use in your player when you need them!
Juice will now check for and download new content and transfer it to your Player (Windows Media Player/WMP or WinAmp).

iTunes Instructions:
1. Select the show you want to set up for Podcast
2. right click "GCN PodCast"
3. select "copy shortcut"
4. Launch iTunes
5. in "Library" select "PodCasts"
6. on the tool bar select "advanced"
7. select "subscribe to PodCast"
8. a pop up box will appear, in the pop up box right click the white area and select "paste"
9. click "ok"
10. iTunes will begin downloading the PodCasts.
To learn more about PodCasts on iTunes you will need to go to the iTunes Help menu.

For any shows you missed in the Podcasting you will have to download them manually using the Archives.
We only keep 3-5 episodes on the server at a time. You will want to set up your reciever to download the PodCasts about every other day or once a week depending on how frequently the show airs.

Our Live Player and On Demand Players will not work on mobile devices. If you would like to listen to GCN on a mobile device you will need to install Flycast. Flycast airs all 4 channels of GCN's live streams for many mobile devices. Click Here to go to FlyCast for more information.

Some of our programs are contracted for shortwave through WWCR. Their schedule changes regularly and can be found here
WWCR Shortwave Schedules WWCR Website