My list of Podcasts

5/29/2007 8:40:11 AM #

I must confess, I don't normally listen to "pod casts".  I find most of them to have horrible, tinny unlistenable audio that distracts from the content, so perhaps I am confused here.

Podcasts are not some magical format, but rather just compressed audio you can download and play on a media player (usually portable, but some of us litterally have a zero commute), so why would anyone use iTunes to download something you can download for free?

I get that there are special "pay to play" casts out there, but the first three you listed are all free to download any time, so why would you not just hit the link in your browser and download them?  Maybe it's the nature of iPods to need special software, I don't know (I try to avoid lock in technology like iPods like as if they were a tofu banquet...), but my MP3 player lets me just drop files into them at will - no special software needed.

I suppose that if I had a bunch of files I wanted to download, and I didn't care when they go to my machine, AND they were available by torrent, I might use that.  If it was like a 2 meg mp3 I could get in 60 seconds, I probably wouldn't bother joining that swarm tho - wasting a huge pile of upstream bandwidth just to meet an arbitrary ethical standard to avoid a 60 second HTTP download is just too annoying...

So, maybe I am missing the point here.  Probably.  I seem to look at the world a little (a lot?) differently than others.

C Johnson

5/29/2007 9:24:51 AM #

Thanks for the link to the .Net Rocks! podcast, I did not know that one yet. My lists would be a bit too long to give here, but some of the shows I listen to daily is Adam's DSC and Fr. Roderick's Daily Breakfast. I regularly watch GeekBrief. I do a video podcast myself as well btw (testing123.podshow.com).

PS: had to use IE to be able to post, FF did not display the graphic.

Mike

5/29/2007 2:52:04 PM #

Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrott.

http://leoville.tv/podcasts/ww.xml

I'm not sure about Mike's posting problem, but if you're reading this, posting from FireFox is working.  At least for me.

Bruce McGee

5/29/2007 3:02:44 PM #

I'm using iTunes for downloading, but it bogs down on video files, so I usually wind up playing these with an alternate player and would love to find something better.

For a better organization/playback tool, maybe look at MediaMonkey.  Apparently, Nick is a happy user and can give you more specifics.

blogs.codegear.com/.../34734.aspx

I'd love to hear other suggestions, but it certainly doesn't hurt that these written in Delphi.

Bruce McGee

5/29/2007 5:10:53 PM #

Also not a bad podcast.  Security Now.

http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm

Bruce McGee

5/29/2007 7:00:48 PM #

* TWIT is ok - for a general tech discussion - but the microsoft bashing and apple love-in, gets annoying at times.  I've noticed that they often get things wrong when they speak about specifics... but it's almost always entertaining.

* "Cranky Geeks" , with Dvorak is worth a listen.

* "extemetech.com" do a decent tech podcast, though they do tend to talk about HDTVissue too much.

* "Make Magazine" also do interesting things. If you like to tinker and rip things apart, it's woth a download

* "net@nite" wth Amber McArthur exposes some interesting websites to visit...  

* "TEDTalks" is always good... you'll want to download all their past speakers.  Topics are varied and interesting.

Michael Mattsson

5/29/2007 7:09:53 PM #

I only have a few must have podcasts:

downloads.bbc.co.uk/.../rss.xml">BBC World News Select
downloads.bbc.co.uk/.../rss.xml">BBC Homegrown

The BBC actually has a ton of great podcasts.  I use FeedDemon + FeedStation to download everything, which automatically adds it to a playlist, which in turn gets sync'd to my Zune each morning.

Shawn Oster

5/29/2007 8:32:51 PM #

I use ZENCast, the podcast application that came with my Zen Vision:M player.  It's a little quirky, but works well enough that I've never looked at an alternative.  I listen to the same list that you put up (except fopr TWIT, I'm going to give that one a try), plus a few NPR podcasts: Car Talk, Fresh Air, Day To Day.  I also get the BBC Radio newsfeed.

I don't have a long commute, 25 minutes or so, but I catch up on the podcasts when I'm mowing my yard.  That takes a few hours and and listening to the podcasts makes that task a lot more enjoyable.

Chris Miller

5/29/2007 9:27:53 PM #

Mike -> IE frequently doesn't show the graphic either.  I had to try to get it about 12 times last night.  I think the blog software is having some sort of bizarre problem with the captcha.  Look, it is missing now!  And there, after clicking save comment, it is back.

C Johnson

5/29/2007 10:34:53 PM #

This is the best science blog I've found:
http://www.theskepticsguide.org/

It mixes interviews, trivia, debate, comedy, etc.

Erik