Denise Howell
Dennis M. Kennedy
Tom Mighell
Marty Schwimmer
Ernest Svenson
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I'm definitely getting older, and I'm clearly losing my edge. That's the best explanation I can offer for my inability to achieve 'tech-epiphany' over the whole podcast revolution.
I like the idea of RSS as a way of scooping up information on websites quickly. My newsreader is filled with thousands of posts from about 203 different sites. I'm not going to pretend for even one second that I read all of these posts everyday. But I do scan the headlines. If I see something interesting I can zero in on it quickly, which is nice. I only subscribe to sites that have 'full feeds' because I don't want to have to wait for web pages to load. That's the point of RSS right?
Well, not completely. Now, a new feature of RSS is the ability to download audio files (a/k/a 'podcasts'). These files are generally not small (average is a couple of MBs). Can I quickly scan these files to see if they contain information I want to assimilate? Sort of, but not anywhere near like what happens with RSS feeds of HTML content.
So are podcasts useless? No, not at all. Audio files are great if you are driving in your car. By contrast, trying to read a news reader while driving is sub-optimal at best. Podcast afficianados seem to like the fact that they can listen and learn at certain moments (i.e. driving, jogging, sky-diving) that would otherwise be wasted by only paying attention to one thing at a time.
I agree this sort of multi-tasking is a wonderful. I just don't happen to be one of those people who gravitates towards listening to audio files, unless it's music. But, for those that like on-demand learning, podcasting is a great thing. Maybe one day bar associations will figure out that podcasts are a good way to provide CLE content in a form that might actually make it easy and convenient to learn. Then, I'll really be excited. Of course, I'll probably be in a nursing home too.
Hopefully, Amanda Congdon's vlog/podcast will still be available then.
Podcasting hasn't really caught me for a few reasons. The most prominent reasons: I have neither an iPod nor a commute. If I find myself with an iPod and a bus ride, I'll try a few, but on the bus I really prefer listening to the music and either reading a book or staring out the window turning over whatever's going through my head at the time.
I just can't get enthusiastic about listening to podcasts while sitting in front of my computer. I've tried, but it just doesn't work for me. But then, I don't usually last long with NPR on while I'm at the computer, either.
So I listen to Evan Schaeffer's two- or three-minute humorcasts, and that's about all, unless something in someone's show notes grabs my attention.
Permalink to CommentI have listened to a few podcasts and even produce my own to accompany my wine blog. But I've found that the best podcasts are more akin to a radio interview or discussion, such as Grape Radio (http://graperadio.com/).
At its best, podcasting will be a way to get programming that's not available on commercial or public radio in your listening area. At its worst, it's a guy reading the very same material on his blog, and not doing a good job of it.
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Tracked on March 29, 2005 08:23 AM
podriahs -- blissfully outside the pod-caste system from f/k/a update: See technogagdetophile Ernie Svenson's admission that "I'm definitely getting older, and I'm clearly losing my edge. That's the best explanation I can offer for my inability to achieve 'tech-epiphany' over [Read More]Tracked on March 29, 2005 10:48 AM