Podcasting

Can anyone recommend a cool podcaster?

I’ve been hearing about the new podcasting rage but have been unsuccessful at finding a quality podcaster (or two). The providers I’ve located have ended up being too amateur for my tastes. Most podcasters I’ve found tend to follow the conflicting-personalities format, which quickly becomes stale.

Can anyone recommend a cool podcaster?

I’ve been hearing about the new podcasting rage but have been unsuccessful at finding a quality podcaster (or two). The providers I’ve located have ended up being too amateur for my tastes. Most podcasters I’ve found tend to follow the conflicting-personalities format, which quickly becomes stale.

I bought my Mom an iPod two years ago so she could tote around the latest in audio entertainment gear. My Mom reveled in having a superior gadget than her senior friends. However, when it came time to buy an mp3 player for the fiancee, I decided an iPod wasn’t worth it. Instead I picked up a Creative Muvo TX, which was 1/3 of the iPod price, has replaceable batteries, has no moving parts (so you can workout while listening), offers a radio, and contains enough capacity to put on the equivalent of 6 albums. Although the iPod offers more storage space, the size of the Muvo was fine. Size has never been an issue in our household (ba da BING!!!).

I was intriqued once I realized that Podcasting was player-agnostic. Originally, I was under the impression that pocasting only worked with an actual iPod player. So I started searching but uncovered lamecasters.

Help a brother out.

19 thoughts on “Podcasting”

  1. The sound of silence

    The crickets you hear, at least from my end, are because I don’t even own a standalone MP3 player. We have a shared family one, which plays CDs and MP3s. I’m so out-of-touch with the whole podcasting thing, I may as well be on another planet.

    That said, I do want an iPod Mini. We have about a 3GB MP3 collection, total, for our family right now, so it would all fit. They look, and sound, pretty cool. But, you know, a hundred bucks for a fancy Walkman still sounds steep to me 🙂


    Matthew P. Barnson

    1. I own a MP3 Player

      I just bought my first dedicated MP3 player while i was overseas. It was a good deal. It is about the size of a USB drive and holds 512 Mb of MP3/WMA files. I have looked into and have wanted an ipod, but can’t seem to justify the expense yet.

      I am not familiar with what podcasting is. Can someone help clue me in?

      JB

      1. Podcasting

        Poscasting is like subscribing to a radio show and then being able to listen to it on your own time.

        If you’re familiar with RSS, which allow you to subscribe to web pages (usually for news feeds), then podcasting is RSS merged with MP3s. Instead of the web pages being delivered to your browser, media files are delivered to your player.

        Imagine Don & Mike being sent to your MP3 player every day, and you can listen whenever you want.

        My $.02 Weed

        1. Sweet

          Thanks for the lesson. Sounds pretty cool.

          I will have to look into it.

        2. D&M podcast

          Weed, thanks for the phone tip on the D&M podcast, I’m listening to them every day now!

    2. Don and Mike

      said today on their show that they will be webcasting the show..

      does that mean you can get it “podcast”?

      I guess I still dont quite understand

      1. Podcast vs. webcast

        Webcasts are generally streaming audio. They may be replayable, but they stream to your computer in real-time, from whenever you start them.

        Podcasts are offline media. You download the show and play it back later.

        Realistically, you can always “rip” a stream from a webcast and convert it into your own personal Podcast. Not a big deal.


        Matthew P. Barnson

        1. Ripping from webcast

          Just spotted this thread (Hi guys!) while googling for “Don and Mike” “podcast”.

          I’ve used this Replay Radio software successfully in the past to record radio shows in MP3 format. It kind of works like a TiVo… only it’s a RadiVo. So to speak.

          I stopped using it because I didn’t like the idea of leaving my computer on to record while I’m at work. Guess I better fire it up again.

  2. Bliss

    I found a Redskins podcast. I’ll be sure to tune in daily to get my dose of Washington football.

  3. Quality Podcasts

    Since you are asking, if you like sports, then you should check us out at MySportsRadio.com, the Sports Podcast Network. With all of our 15+ shows, our purpose is to produce quality production and content, because you’re right, there IS so much out there that it’s hard to tell where the good stuff is. For instance, ESPN Dream Job contestant Anish Shroff just started a Yankees podcast with us–our guys are tested! 🙂

    I see that you found a Redskins Podcast… would that be “Skinny on the Skins” (http://redskins.mysportsradio.com)?

    Feel free to get in touch to talk podcasting. I’ve been doing it from the beginning and can point you around.

    Keep up the good work!

      1. Deletions

        I delete between 10 and 300 spam posts per day.

        This one was only only advert which was actually on-topic 🙂 So I let it stand.


        Matthew P. Barnson

  4. In the 14 months since first

    In the 14 months since first posting I have become addicted to this audio format as a primary source of news and entertainment. Today, I spend at least one hour a day listening to podcasts. I wanted to share my subscription list and some thoughts.

    The subscription list below is not a list of shows merely accumulated over time. With the ability to instantly add and dump the programs on a playlist, I have subscribed to hundreds of new adds but then dumped after hearing the first episode. Some programs are just terrible, or off-topic, and they are dumped.

    These programs (below) post new episodes from as little as weekly to daily. After a while, it gets hard to keep up with all the releases, and I have to sacrifice remaining up-to-date with an overflowing list of downloaded episodes by pre-selecting my listening schedule based on a combination of episode interest and duration. Meaning, the 5-minute episodes on technology get played before the hour-long episodes on international relations.

    1. Accounting Best Practices with Steve Bragg 2. Benjamen Walker’s Theory Of Everything (the greatest podcast ever!) 3. APM Future Tense (daily, only really need the first two minutes) 4. APM: Weekend America’s Music Pick 5. Background Briefing (Australia Public Radio – awesome! Everyone should check this out!) 6. Best Of Moyles (British talk show) 7. Capitals Report (a terrible format, but I listen anyway because of my allegiance to the team) 8. CBS News – 60 Minutes podcast (selected segments) 9. CNN Marketplace Update (twice-daily) 10. Decoder Ring Theatre 11. InDesign Secrets 12. Inside Minnesota Politics (a Democrat show that does a great job of getting interviews and live captures of speeches) 13. KCRW’s Theatre Talk (based out of LA) 14. Librivox Audiobooks (listeners record and post chapters from public domain literary classics, totally free!) 15. Marketing Edge 16. MPR Policast ( a daily news blast from MN public radio, released at 7AM) 17. NEWSWEEK on-air (why read the magazine anymore?) 18. NPR Sports with Frank Deford 19. NPR Sunday Puzzle (Will Shortz = good radio) 20. NPR: Technology 21. NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! 22. PRI Studio 360 (Kurt Anderson gets A-list guests) 23. Public Radio Exchange 24. Quickbooks Q&A 25. The Don & Mike Show 26. The Journal Report 27. The Math Factor (puzzles from the math dept. at the U. of AK) 28. The Strip (weekly commentary from Vegas insiders)

    Today, I listen to podcasts as my preferred media format before tuning into the radio or reading a newspaper. Although my podcast list contains audio-only programs, I have subscribed to video in the past. Video requires a subscriber to sit in front of a screen. Because I am driving, typing, surfing, lifting, running or brushing while listening, the audio nature is more convenient for background playback and for transfer to mobile playback devices. Thus, for instant news and live sports, I’ll still favor the TV.

    The days of lamecasting are over. Whereas a couple years ago, the proliferation of podcasting was made possible by streams of episodes launched from the nascent neighbor next-door, today’s listener is expecting a professionally packaged effort. With so many companies and brands entering the podcasting venue, no listener wants to dedicate time to hearing an amateur fumble through their home-based project.

    The lack of maturation in podcast has held off the advertising and integration. Podcasting is still not a heavily advertised format. Nor is it at this point a format integrated with other retail, broadcast or celebrity channels. I think this makes this enjoyable to listeners.

    Going forward I think for podcasting to succeed at a mass level the name needs to change. “Podcasting” makes people feel, like I did originally (see above), that it requires an Apple-based platform. Second, while the net first succeeded in the mid-90s by democratizing the access to information, I think podcasting will succeed by making the listening/viewing experience a more participatory event. There are lots of podcasters who have set up voice mails and e-voice accounts to let listeners call in but it definitely needs to go beyond to engage the masses.

      1. Cool!

        Long drive coming up! Need podcasts. I’ve been listening to Kevin smith’s Smodcast (google it) Its like one of his Commentaries, without the film running.

        Visit the Official Justin Timpane Website Music, Acting, and More! http://www.timpane.com

        1. Interesting new podcast

          Each month, the International Spy Museum will offer a new SpyCast featuring interviews and programs with ex-spies, intelligence experts, and espionage scholars. The SpyCast is hosted by Peter Earnest, Executive Director of the International Spy Museum and former CIA operations officer.

          Here is the link – http://www.spymuseum.org/programs/spycast.php

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