Podcast Review

My recent computer meltdown causes me to review the contents of my podcast lists. There is a post below about my computer problems, if you are curious about that story. Thinking I may soon lose everything on the hard drive, I scrambled to make note of the contents. One of my most used programs on the computer is iTunes and the most downloaded and listened to files are podcasts. I started this blog almost a year ago, and listed podcasts that I like at the bottom of the blog's page layout. If you scroll down, you'll see them all the way below all the posts. I haven't changed the list since then, and I would have to say they are still considered my favorites.

Listening to podcasts, by now, has become a solid habit that is strongly ingrained in my daily routine. Although I do not listen when I am working, because I like to concentrate on the stories, I still manage to listen to between 2 to 4 hours during workdays and sometimes 6 to 8 hours during weekends. I listen when I drive, when I run or work out, and when I do housework, yardwork, or cooking. I like the fact that I am learning something while getting something else done or commuting.

For a long time, the podcast file, which is followed by the number of unlistened to podcasts, had a 666 after it. It seemed that I was in a strange balance where the number of files I listened to equaled the number I downloaded.

In case you're reading this and you have no idea what the whole concept of podcasts are or how they work, I can explain. Much of the early podcasts were just radio programs that were digitally recorded for later download to listen to at your leisure on your own schedule. Think of it as a combination of a VCR recording your programs (audio/radio programs) and then emailing it to your computer for your convenience. iTunes has a "iTunes Store" that shows what is available. Music is available for 99 cents per song, but podcasts are mostly free. You "subscribe" to a podcast, once you search through a list and find something you want to try. Once you have subscribed, each time you go into iTunes, it automatically downloads newer episodes of that program. You then dig through your podcast list and copy anything you want to listen to over to your iPod. Then you unplug it and take off with hours of audio at your fingertips. I have a 2 GigaByte second generation shuffle, which holds around 8 to 12 hours of programming (I've never really looked to see what it will hold). When I had my first generation shuffle, the files all went onto the iPod in the order that they were copied. Now they are automatically reordered on the iPod in the reverse chronological order of their release date. This is annoying, but I've learned to live with it. I don't have a video screen, so I can't easily skip around to whatever podcast I want, I just listen to it in the order it comes and don't worry about it.

At first, I subscribed to a lot of NPR programming. I also discovered AP & the New York Times had news broadcasts. AP was very annoying because it didn't download just the most recent hour, but each hour since the last time I had been on the computer. It was more annoying because it was at 2 or 3 times the volume of the other podcasts. I got to think of it as the Fox News of the Podcasting world. Short on content, but making up for it with volume and fury. I also found a bunch of science podcasts, from NASA and JPL to the journals Science and Nature, as well as Scientific American (long and short versions) and NPRs gem, Science Friday.

I found a great deal of Spanish language podcasts, and after listening for a year, I'm starting to be able to understand the language better than I ever did after 3 years in Panama. I recently started listening to French, Italian, & German. Not really trying to learn the language, just trying to let it wash over me.

I listened to a podcast call podictionary from the beginning. Charles Hodgson is an Electrical Engineer with a passion for the meaning and origin of words. His narratives weave the meaning of the word in with a little humor and a hook in the end. So I started emailing suggestions to him and he was putting them in his podcast. He was writing a book based on his podcast and somehow found out that I linked his podcast on my blog. He contacted me and asked me if he could send me a copy of his book for free in thanks for linking with him. It felt like a small world.

Some podcasts had a brief and powerful run and then retired. Logically Critical, Brain Food, and Callbox 7 are good examples of this. Callbox 7 even featured some long ranting email by me. Daniel Brewer, the podcaster, put together a good program, but it was interfering with his work and personal life, so he had to give it up. It's possible that he was driving himself nuts with the subject matter, too. He was into politics and didn't like Bush, so imagine how you'd feel in his shoes a year ago. One of my favorite moments in his podcast was an interview of his father, a retired physician. His father said that people came to him in poor health and expected him to make them better. He remarked that the reason they were in bad shape was because of a lifetime of bad habits, and that no doctor would be able to erase that with a pill or ointment.

Another cool thing I've found are college classes that are available as podcasts. It's an excellent way to learn something without paying tuition and having to do the homework. I look at it as auditing a class (we could audit classes in college, you attended them but got not credit and didn't have to turn in homework or take tests). One of my favorites is a professor from Oxford's Anglo Saxon history class. He reads from Beowulf and other old English works and gives translations. He's a hilarious Scottish or Irish guy, full of funny little stories. The podcast blends language and history into an interesting combination. Another class I like is History 132, which is a young professor in Anchorage Alaska teaching 20th century history. The guy likes to open up the hour with a list of obscure holidays and observances. I also listen to Quantum Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, but I don't think I'm becoming adept as much as exposed. I was listening to some Physics podcasts from a professor at MIT, but that effort stalled out because his classes are in video, so I have to watch from the computer if I want to do it. It's not portable.

Many podcasts no longer there, but some were not worth listening to in the first place. There were a couple that were from ex-religious people that fell from belief and wanted to expound their new way of thinking. Surprisingly, it was not very interesting. They were well versed in the scriptures and could pick apart the Bible from the inside, but since I don't care to read the Bible, I wasn't very interested in their analysis. The most hilarious religious podcast was from Logically Critical, putting old testament bible passages into his own words. It sounded like he was making it up and making fun of it, but then I read a couple of sections he was highlighting and realized that he wasn't exaggerating, he was just putting it in modern English with slang and modern inflection, and it just sounded crazy.

For humor and fun, I could say Savage Love, but that is a sex advice column, and while strange and amusing, it is not usually intentionally funny. The Onion has a hilarious Onion Radio News podcast, and they also produce "The President's Weekly Radio Address". The guy that does it has Bush down pretty good, and makes him sound like a complete idiot. I just recently discovered the real President's Weekly Radio Address, and unfortunately, the two podcasts sound pretty much the same. Enjoy!