Pro-Life Perspective and Apple's iTunes

Editor's Note. Please drop me a line at daveandrusko@hotmail.com

By Derrick Jones

Last June, we announced, with deserved fanfare, the launch of www.prolifeperspective.com , the online home of National Right to Life's daily five-minute radio program, Pro-Life Perspective. The web site was designed both as a vehicle to share the show with those pro-lifers who might not be able to hear the program on their local radio station and a one-stop shop for links to resource material for each episode.

In short, the web site provided us with a rudimentary way of podcasting Pro-Life Perspective.

For those unfamiliar with the term "podcasting," I'll refer back to my June 2007 article:

Podcasting is a term born of the increasingly popular iPod music player (Note: you do not need an iPod music player to take advantage of podcasting.)

Podcasting is simply a shorthand way of saying that you will be able to download episodes of Pro-Life Perspective directly to your computer and re-listen to them at your leisure. A secondary advantage is that if you have a digital music player, you can also transfer episodes from your computer to your music player and listen to us on the go.

Slowly, but surely, we continued to expand the www.prolifeperspective.com web site's reach. First, we have a weekly e-mail sent to listeners providing direct audio links for each episode, as well as resource links for the material discussed. (If you're not receiving the weekly e-mails, you can sign-up by sending an e-mail with "subscribe" in the subject line to producer@prolifeperspective.com or via the sign-up form on the web site.)

Next we re-designed and streamlined the web site and added an "RSS" feed. RSS stands for "really simple syndication" and is used by web sites to alert subscribers to web site updates or breaking news. Newer Internet browsing software contains built-in "feed readers" which track your RSS subscriptions. In our case, we provided show summaries and links to each episode.

But the "holy grail" of podcasting still eluded us ... until now.

For those as geeked-out as I am, the "holy grail" is, of course, Apple Computer's iTunes program. Though it's an Apple-designed program, it's used by millions of PC users as their default music player on their computer (including me).

In addition to organizing your music (which can then be loaded onto your iPod if you have one) and buying new music (using the iTunes store), iTunes allows users to subscribe to the broad range of podcasts available on the Internet.

I'm proud to announce that you can now get Pro-Life Perspectives via iTunes and the iTunes music store free of charge! For those of you who use iTunes and/or are attached at the hip with your iPod (like me), it means a fast, convenient way to download Pro-Life Perspective and take us with you on the go.

To get us on iTunes, you can either follow the link from our web site or just search the iTunes store for "pro-life perspective." It's that easy!

If you don't have iTunes and/or an iPod, fear not! You can still access Pro-Life Perspective via www.prolifeperspective.com (and even have the upper-hand because of the wonderful resource links posted with each episode--something even iTunes can't provide).

So now, depending on your level of computer expertise, you have three different ways of accessing Pro-Life Perspective if your local station doesn't carry the show:

Beginner--Visit www.prolifeperspective.com and click directly on the episode you want to listen to. It should automatically open up in your Internet browsing window.

Intermediate--Subscribe to the Pro-Life Perspective RSS feed in your feed reader.

Advanced--Set up iTunes to download Pro-Life Perspective, sync your iPod, and take us with you on the go!

P.S. Help us spread the word about Pro-Life Perspective: 1) sign-up for the weekly e-mails and then forward them to your own e-mail lists; and/or 2) download the small black and white ad from the "Promote PLP" section of the web site and run it in your chapter's newsletter!

First broadcast in January 1985, Pro-Life Perspective is NRLC's official radio broadcast and is hosted by NRLC President Dr. Wanda Franz and co-hosted by American Victims of Abortion Director Olivia Gans.