What I like about podcasts

I had to follow up the last post with this one because there are several cool things about podcasts. Particularly the podcasts that involve technology.

Back years ago there were these things called books that you would read to get technical information. Then we moved to magazines. Magazines were good. They got updated every month or so. If you were talking bleeding edge tech, then they would be horribly outdated by the time you read them. Whatever you read in a magazine was several weeks, if not months, old. This time is getting shorter I am sure, but it is still old news.

Enter the Internet. What a great medium. You can have the most up to date info on a product or technology at the touch of the keyboard. But podcasts can get you the same news and information delivered each day in audio content.

I would be hard pressed to remember to go to Earth & Sky’s website each day to find out what kind of interesting things you can see that night. But with the podcast, I know which planets are easiest to see that evening and I am up to date on any big events like eclipses.

The TWiT family of podcasts are all pretty good.

Amber MacArthur and Inside the Net is my favorite out of group. In it Amber and Leo interview people from new and emerging websites and web technologies.

There is Security Now! with Steve Gibson. I learned of Steve back in the 90’s when I was dealing with a Zip Drive Click of Death problem. This podcast is about all things security. The later episodes have gotten pretty deep, but the early ones will get you hooked if you go back to the beginning. Everyone should listen to the ones about passwords.

At TWiT there is also FLOSS Weekly with Chris DiBona. That is about Free/Libre Open Source Software. Stuff like Linux and other OSS offerings. Chris works for Google and has access to interviewing some of the big names in OSS development.

There are other shows at TWiT that I listen to. They also have some shows that have not interested me. Leo seems to have done a good job in building a network and monetizing it. There are also The Daily Giz Wiz, This Week in Media, Futures in Biotech and a couple of Mac related podcasts.

Buzz out Loud, Extreme Tech and the PGA Podcast are other news related podcasts that keep me up to date.

I listen to several health and exercise podcasts as well. The best produced is Scott Smith’s Motivation to Move. It is professional and does not suffer from podcast creep. He also has one minute shows.

My favorite in the category is Phedippidations with Steve Runner. Passion. That is the word that draws me to podcasts and that is what you get with Steve. I feel like I know him. When he ran the Boston Marathon this year I told everyone that I had a friend running in the marathon. It is the only 1 hour show that I wished would be longer. Because I am interested in listening to Steve while running my long runs each week, 1 hour is way too short. Steve does not give a myriad of links nor any actually useful information, so I do not feel like I have to listen as intently nor is 1 hour too long. I said Steve was passionate, not really informative. Entertainment factor is pretty good. His best episodes are when he does a bio of a runner.

There are Adam, Matt and Stu (who is wound a bit too tight) that I enjoy listening to. If you are an endurance athlete check out Endurance Planet. They have 15 minute interviews three times a week. I enjoy hearing stories of other athletes who, many of whom, are normal people. Though they also interview professionals.

Someday I may tell about the chess, ham radio and religious podcasts that I listen to as well.

Podcasting delivers content in a nice audio format that would either be boring to read, or too much to keep up on otherwise. Podcasting is a great new medium.

4 thoughts on “What I like about podcasts”

  1. I can’t say that I listen to as many podcasts… I surely don’t. i actually have some podcasts that are downloaded that I have yet to listen to the second or third episode.

    I’m working on my second episode of my podcast and though I promise to have little to no music (other than short segways or background music), I probably won’t be all that informative, but perhaps the entertainment factor will be, eh… marginal! That is if I can get another episode out. I do love submitting content to shows though, so making my own show seemed natural.

    My original response to this post was, I had the click of death too… then I set the ZipDrive alone for a while and the Click of Death was only a Click of Temporary Ailment as the drive worked again. But then the ZipDrive was replaced with a sleeker, sexier technology called Flash Memory… My ZipDrive Antique is somewhere in my workshop…

  2. My click of death was just that. Fortunately it was my first Zip drive. I bought it at a “hamfest” (ham radio swap meet) and I had nothing that really needed the Zip technology. I think I paid $5 for it. Maybe that should have told me something. I still have it. I never got into using or caring about Zip drives.

    Flash drives are so much faster and more convenient.

  3. Dave, the last 2 posts have been very informative. Thanks.

    One really difficult thing about podcasting is people are hesitant to their real opinion. They only want to say “nice” things. I really only put music in to highlight songs I made. Once I ran out of songs, the music breaks mostly went away. However having music isn’t really about highlighting new artist or a devotion to old radio format. It is mostly from the insecurity of “who really wants to listen to 1/2 hour of me straight?”

  4. “However having music isn’t really about highlighting new artist or a devotion to old radio format.”

    For your show, no, it has not been about new artists. But other shows that I have written (Steve and Adam, raise your hands) have said it is about getting new music out there.

    I have not talked/written to Dr. Monte yet, but it seems like his musical selections are all about new and indie artists. I just heard episode 8. When I get current I will feel more comfortable calling into his Listener Hotline. Maybe in a couple of days I will get there.
    For the record, your show, Matt, has stayed true to its length and the music has gotten sparse. Two-thumbs up!

    Transition music is good. You have that in your show, it works.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.