More podcasting

I've talked about podcasting before, but I thought I'd write about it again as I get more into the continuously expanding list of programming that's out there. As I listen, I have developed a stronger sense of which podcasts I like and are worth my time, and in the process I've had to put off my backlog of audible books for a while, but hopefully not too long!

For those new to podcasts, they are kind of home-grown amateur radio broadcasts, but not via radio. The programming is very diverse, ranging from completely informal BS sessions, to recordings from conferences, to group discussions on just about anything you can think of. Professionals have even gotten into the fray as they see this format taking off, so we now have programming from NPR and the BBC, among others.

So how do you actually receive these podcasts? Well, really you can get them on any computer connected to the internet, a client program (I use Doppler Radio), a program to play MP3's (iTunes, Windows Media Player) and optionally a portable MP3 player to transfer the files to. For those lucky enough to have a smartphone with MP3 capabilities and a relatively fast (faster-than-dial-up) connection to the internet, one can download these directly onto the same device that will play them and do this from any location where a signal can be found.

To understand a little more of the technical details, I'll just explain a bit of the background briefly. First there was RSS, which stands for Real Simple Syndication. This is basically a type of (XML-specified) scripting language that allows a content producer to create a file that has their content in a structured format. That file can then be pulled or pushed to an "aggregator" which will then make that content available to anyone who subscribes to it via a special program, usually called a "newsreader." The bottom line is that the content producer doesn't have to get visited by thousands of people, which might tax his bandwidth limits, and the subscriber doesn't need to remember a url to go to. Rather he uses a newsreader and subscribes to "feeds" of the content, which are usually just text and perhaps some images, but none of the other stuff that might be on a web-page – read ADS! Then again, the content producer then doesn't get the revenue of the ads that these readers might click on, but more and more content producers are putting ads in the feeds themselves, something that a lot of people question for obvious reasons. The newsreader will download every updated feed that one is subscribed to and present it immediately, without any fuss, so it's a very convenient way of accessing lots of your favorite information sources in one small package.

RSS has another feature to it called "enclosures" which allow for basically attaching files to a feed entry. So, last year Adam Curry of MTV fame got together with some coders and developed a program that was kind of a newsreader but specifically for feeds with enclosures and even more specifically for MP3 enclosures. This program, called iPodder, was integrated initially with iTunes and thus the iPod, but other such programs have been developed that integrate with Windows Media Player which can then be synchronized with almost any device that plays MP3's. The idea was similar to that of a newsreader. Just have your podcast "client" program download whatever MP3 files were available in any of the feeds you subscribed to, and then have it sync to your MP3 player. You don't have to think about it much, just hook up your player to your computer every morning, have it retrieve any new shows, and off you go with a collection of new stuff to listen to.

As podcasting has grown in popularity, various people (including Adam Curry) have been looking at ways to make it more into a professional industry rather than just a bunch of folks fooling around in their spare time. Where this is all going I can't quite tell you, and I think the number of people listening to this stuff is still very small side compared to traditional radio, but it does make listening a bit easier in many respects. In particular it lets you listen to things on your own schedule, instead of the radio station's. Market insiders are seeing younger listeners (who aren't being targeted by traditional radio) are going more and more for alternative formats like podcasting, so as these users get older more and more people will be used to this format, in addition to just the early adopters.

Anyway, as I said, I have a list now of my current shows I like to listen to, so here goes:

The Dawn and Drew Show: in my 10-course meal of podcasts, this is kind of my guilty pleasure, my junk food course. Dawn and Drew were I think the first podcast I listened to. They have been podcasting since I think last September or October and I've listened to almost all but their first dozen shows. They are basically just a married couple (Dawn Miselli and Drew Domkus) in rural Wisconsin BSing about tons of stuff. It's very politically incorrect, but these guys seem to be that way just for the shock value and humor value. Drew is a bit of a geek and Dawn is kind a sarcastic ex-Punk type. Their repartee is just very funny as they kind of insult each other; make fun of the other, etc., but not in a really mean-spirited way. Occasionally they bring in guests, particularly family members, or even call them up for phone interviews. Their family – really mostly Dawn's family – is as entertaining as they are. Each show is about 40 minutes long (including comments to their listener line) http://www.dawnanddrew.com/rss2.xml

Future Tense: this show is produced by NPR and are fairly short at around 5 minutes a pop. Each cover a topic related to technology, the internet, etc. A nice short digestible amount of content similar to a single story on NPR, although usually a bit more savvy than what you would get on one of their general news programs like All Things Considered. I believe they come out on a daily basis: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/podcast.xml

Morning Stories: another NPR-produced show with Tony Kahn. These are also relatively short at about 8 minutes each. A nice format, where a theme is picked and someone reads a kind of audio essay. These are sometimes very humorous, sometimes sad, and often touching. Tony then comments about the essay and discusses the subject a bit more with his cohost. These are nice little tidbits, and I wish they came out more than once a week: http://streams.wgbh.org/podcast/morningstories.xml

Engadget: the blog Engadget recently got Eric Rice to reengage their podcasting. Last year they had come out with a bunch when Philip Torrone was still working there (more on him below). They talk about gadgets and technology similar to the blog, so it's nice to have an audio source for this because they are often so prolific on their blog that I just get helplessly behind! But my opinion is not totally set with this yet. I'm not sure if I like Rice as a commentator and sometimes I've thought he missed some points or didn't get everything right on a given technology. They don't seem to have a schedule down, and I'm not sure if the show length is very fixed either, but check them out and listen for yourself: http://www.engadget.com/common/videos/pt/rss.xml

Geek News Central: Todd Cochrane records this show at home as kind of a supplement to his website. We get to hear about some tech news, what's going on in the blogosphere and podosphere, and someone in the IT industry in general. But Todd also throws in a lot of personal anecdotes about himself, his wife, and kids, which make it a more interesting show, I think. Todd has an interesting voice that helps to keep you from drifting off. The show lasts for around 35 minutes or so and is put out twice a week: http://www.geeknewscentral.com/podcast.xml

Leo Laporte The Tech Guy: Leo was one of the mainstays on ZDTV/TechTV before it was bought and put to a horrible death by GameSpot. Leo now has an am radio call-in show in Los Angeles at KFI where he helps users diagnose problems a lot like his show "Call for Help" on TechTV. But he also talks about new developments in computers, technology, gadgets, etc. One time he went on an Apple cruise and interviewed John Wozniak for the show, which was great. Leo is also just an incredibly upbeat and his desire to help anyone with anything really makes the show enjoyeable, even when you already know the answer he's going to give: http://feeds.feedburner.com/kfi

The Laporte Report Audio Edition: another podcast from Leo Laporte, but this time it's more of a BS session between him and some former The Screen Saver cast and crew, including Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, and potentially Yoshi. Leo initially called this the "Revenge of Bleep" where the bleep was a bleeping out of "The Screen Savers" which G4 owns the rights to. The show is kind of an insider's view of what went on behind the scenes at ZDTV/TechTV, but much more. Actually, it's probably mostly just about new technology, trends, etc. Basically a bunch of geeks talking shop. Nothing is dumbed down like the previous podcast, so be aware that not everything is explained for the benefit of listeners who may not be savvy. Still, it's great to hear these guys again together and it brings back memories from the 'good old days' before G4 put TechTV/ZDTV to death…: http://leoville.tv/tlr/tlr.php (soon to change to http://twit.tv/hi)

Reel Review: Michael Geohegen is a film fanatic who reviews generally non-current movies (DVD's), at least since I've been listening. It's possible he's done some currently running stuff in the past, I don't know. Michael's knowledge of and passion for film really show in his reviews and I always feel like I want to go out and rent the movie after listening! If I had a Netflix account I'm sure I'd be adding the movies he's been reviewing. Recently he even teamed up with another team of podcasters who have a show about wine (Grape Radio) and did a group discussion about the movie sideways. This was great because you got all the cinematic analysis from Michael and a bunch of wine connoisseur's analysis about the wine and the various wineries, wine bars, and restaurants featured in the film. His shows are generally in the 20-minute or so timeframe and he puts out one or two a week. : http://reelreviewsradio.com/podcast.xml

IT Conversations: this podcast, founded and hosted by Doug Kaye, is starting to become a kind of IT-News and Views radio network of sorts! Some of the content is just recorded panels from various conferences like Web 2.0. It's great to get such recordings for those of us who would love to be there in person but don't have the freedom, money, or job that would put us there. But in addition to these, there are all kinds of interviews of various technology luminaries. These shows are hosted and produced by a variety of people who send their content to Doug who makes the best of it available on the podcast. Some of the stuff I've listened to has been way to wonky for me, but most of it is really quite interesting. It doesn't just stick to pure technology issues, but veers into economics and culture often but as it relates to technology. I don't know if there's any real schedule, but you can usually count on at least several shows a week if not more. Those shows can range from 20 minutes up to two hours depending on the type of show (the panel recordings often being some of the longest): http://www.itconversations.com/rss/recentWithEnclosures.php

Make/DIY: Philip Torrone used to be part of Engadget but left be part of Oreilly's Make Magazine.  While at Engadget he helped to write much the great DIY (do it yourself) projects and was the host of the Engadget podcast last year before he left. Philip definitely puts across his passion for technology and the technology industry, but so far he's just getting started with this new podcast, so it's not as "meaty" as his old Engadget shows used to be. This podcast is just getting started with just a handful so far, but we will hopefully see a lot more in-depth discussion in them soon.  For now they are primarily some personal news relating to gadgets/technology as well as some news and info about the magazine: http://www.makezine.com/blog/index.xml

The Leonard Lopate Show: an NPR-produced talk show based in New York, this show features just one 30-minutes segment of what is a 2-hour show. Leanord interviews someone, often an author about a recent book. Generally really interesting guests and Leonard is a good interviewer. I think these shows come out on a daily or almost-daily schedule – during the week: http://www.wnyc.org/rss/show.py?show=lopate

The Catholic Insider: my highly atheistic brother-in-law recommended this podcast so I was intrigued! It's hosted by a young Dutch priest, Roderick Vonhögen, who was gotten a lot of attention lately what with the pope's death. He does a lot of "sound-seeing tours" (where you take a recorder with you somewhere and talk about your surroundings and what's happening around you), and so he did a lot of these around the Vatican during the time period from when the John Paul II was dying up until the new pope, Benedict XVI, was chosen. He's also apparently done some tours which I haven't heard yet detailing the places described in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons (the book he wrote before The Da Vinci Code, but which has similar themes). He talks about his past and his love for Star Wars and is generally very normal sounding and not the pious, unapproachable entity that is often portrayed on TV or in movies. You get the sense that he has a great sense of humor, respects all religions, and is not at all about proselytizing. He is also a good speaker, although he has a accent, and he really shows his passion for those things that excite him: http://feeds.feedburner.com/catholicinsider

Battlestar Gallactica: this podcast is produced by the creator and executive producer of the new remake of the TV series Battlestart Gallactica. Only a five of these have come out for this first full season of the show, and now that the season has ended, we'll have to wait at least two or three months until the series starts up again this summer. For the most part, it's like listening to an audio commentary on a DVD, although I was able to listen to it while driving and was able to follow who they were talking about. You get a lot of additional insight into the show and it seems as if it's not at all something that is really stuck in stone the way some shows are mapped out for years in advance: http://www.podcastalley.com/redirect.php?pod_id=1819

The Brian Lehrer Show: Another NPR talk show based out of New York, and like The Leonard Lopate Show, it's 30 minutes of a 2-hour show just about each day of the week (not weekends): http://www.wnyc.org/rss/show.py?show=bl

Slacker Astronomy: this is a short 5-10-minute podcast that comes out about once a week about Astronomy. It's made by a couple of astronomers (Aaron and Pamela) and a production guy (Travis). It's geared at those without a scientific background and they try to make it entertaining by being cute. This can occasionally get a bit annoying, like they are trying to target 11-year-olds, but luckily the show is in general informative and once you get over the cutesy stuff, they are fine: http://www.slackerastronomy.org/slack-live.xml

On The Media: this is yet another NPR show, but not a talk-show. The show talks about all forms of media, news, industry trends, technological trends, and lots more. It's a really interesting show, I think. This is the first full-length NPR show to podcast its entire show of about an hour. It's produced on a weekly basis: http://www.onthemedia.org/index.xml

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