Podcasting
I thought I should peek around at this whole podcasting thing, since it seems to be gaining popularity. I want to know what's out there--what have other people found? I'm thouroughly unimpressed with the directories that exist, because I'd really like to know more about it than its name before I download. So, please, comment and share!
These are the worthwhile casts I've found so far:
Viva Podcast: Random chatter
Berkeley Groks: Science discussion
posted by Lemming @ 8/17/2005 04:41:00 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Talk to Lorian - she's got a whole bunch of podcasts she listens to while working, something on the order of 15+ hours worth a week, I think?
-Z
[This is L posting; the previous comment under my name was actually Z talking]
I'm actually listening to a podcast right now ;) I listen to about 30-40 hours of podcasts a week, but half of that is generally from the archives of whatever new shows I just picked up.
I'd recommend any of the podcasts listed on my blog (look under "Aural"), with the caveat that my tastes are eclectic, and I'm tolerant of audio quality "issues," while being intolerant of people who ramble unentertainingly.
For you in particular (or any tech geek), I *very* highly recommend IT Conversations; it's essentially a collection of recorded lectures and talks by various interesting tech geeks and scientists (the ones by Wil Wheaton and Will Wright are especially yummy). The system for picking the talks you want to listen to is a bit more complicated than most (a queue system you have to manually add to iTunes), but not prohibitive. They also produce some of their own shows--I listen to Tech Nation, which features interviews with a wide range of (geeky) people.
For music podcasts, there are a *lot* to choose from. I generally listen to podsafe (i.e., music the podcaster got legal permission to play) indie mixes and celtic music, as well as some Japanese indie stuff, but that's because I haven't really gone looking for much else. Coverville is one of my favorites; it plays (generally good) covers of music from a wide variety of genres.
For "special interest" shows, there's a show for pretty much anything you have an interest in. I've discovered I'm incredibly picky about the gaming shows I can stand to listen to; the only one I stick with is Short Attention Gamer, and I have no idea why. I've also gone through a bunch of comicbook podcasts, and found most of them heavily focused on superhero comics (meh). Meanwhile talks more about the comic industry itself, and manages to make it entertaining to boot. I don't think you're interested in photography, but there are some very good, well-produced and informative podcasts linked from my website should you ever start using a camera. Random Chatter, which you mentioned, is one of my favorite movie podcasts, but I also have to recommend Reel Reviews, which is more of a dissection than a review of slightly older movies (the most recent episode was an in-depth examination of Scarface, for instance).
There are also a number of more-or-less scripted shows that I can't really categorize as anything other than "really good shows I love" (they're sub-listed under "Entertainment" on my site for lack of a better title). My favorite podcast of all time is Geek Fu Action Grip, tremendously pleasing geeky essays by a freelance writer for White Wolf and other drool-worthy companies. My second favorite show is Teknikal Diffikulties, a scripted comedy show with geeky overtones (the LARP segments are some of my favorites). My third favorite is the Seanachai, produced by a guy who writes and performs really good but really short stories. I'd recommend starting with Driver's Re-education pts. 1 & 2, or A Very Slow Getaway, or A Round on Werner, or... oh heck, just listen to them all. The How to Suceed in Evil series is awesome, although not yet finished.
As a good directory for finding new shows, I use Digital Podcast Directory, because it has a sensible catagory system, in addition to listing the show descriptions along with the name. iTunes also does a pretty good job, if you're looking for keywords (searching Podcasts for "Kyoto", for instance, popped up some promising shows that I'll check out soon). Click on iTunes' (i) to the right of the name for a description (but you can't do anything about the people who put "fun and entertnment!!1!!" as their description, sadly). I recently found a really interesting tool in my search for new podcasts: Gigadial. It lets you make your own rss feed out of individual episodes of various podcasts. I use it to check out new podcasts before actually subscribing, as it lets me pick out new shows while at my work computer, instead of waiting til I get home. Hopefully some of this info will help you find some shows worth listening to. The best way to discover casts you like is to follow recommendations from podcasters you already enjoy, but finding that starting core of favorite shows is the hard part.
Thanks for the lengthy response! I've queued a good number of them up.
When I said "Random chatter," I was describing another show, didn't realize there was one by that name.
Right now I'm listening to the Dawn & Drew Show. Within a minute of the show starting they're talking about poop, so this one might be a winner.
I'm glad you like Groks. Did you get a chance to listen to Charles Lee (aka "Chuckles" to those of us who overlapped with him in Lloyd) do his Scottish accent?
Hi. Glad you enjoy our show (Berkeley Groks). Mason suggested that I post something here. He said it might freak you out... ;-)
No, I haven't managed to listen to much of it yet, only a few episodes,. Spent last week in the server room, and "spoken word" stuff isn't very audible over the fans and other equipment down there, so I haven't been listening to podcasts much this week. I'll get caught up tho, and let you know what I think.
Thanks for dropping by, Charles. I'm a bit harder than that to freak me out. Shock value will be tricky, you'll need to come up with something... clever.
Hmmm... I was kind of hoping Charles would actually try to be over the top to freak you out. I should have actually stated explicitly that it would take something special.
Hurray for bored Caltech alums! :)
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