Thing #21: Blogged Down With Podcasts: Are They Taking Over the World?

Podcasts are popping up like weeds, so who needs to search for them? According to a clip in the QL Learning blog, "podcast" was declared word of the year for 2005 by Oxford University Press. Well, I hope someone comes up with synonyms or alternate terms soon, because this whole post is bloated with the word. Podcast, podcast, podcast. Judge for yourself:
I explored all three suggested directories, Podcast Alley, podcast.net, and Yahoo Audio. Each, of course, is designed to facilitate searches for podcasts. Podcast.net organizes them in a search directory and lists the top ten search tags, as well as a list of the newest podcasts entered. This Yahoo-like directory makes it easier to search for a particular category. Podcast Alley also features some notable podcasts and lists the top ten. Yahoo Audio seemed the least oriented towards finding podcasts, which it just lumps together under "audio." What is interesting about Yahoo Audio, however, is that it rates the podcasts for quality. I don't know WHO rates them or how, but every one I looked at deserved the l out of 5 rating it received.

I also searched for podcasts with the tag "library" but turned up nothing worthwhile. I did turn up one on neuro science, however. Surely there's a neuro scientist somewhere who would find it worth a listen. In my opinion, just about all the podcasts I turned up did not deserve my time. Life is short.

In the end I went to NPR and had trouble choosing from its high-quality collection of past broadcasts. What a gold mine of highest-quality podcasts! I finally settled on NPR's "Book Tour" column to add to my Bloglines feeds. I had a hard time making up my mind. I'd also like to add Car Talk, Secrets of New York, and, and, and... Another favorite of mine, Border's Book Club is not available as a feed, but must be accessed through Border's website.

Great. Now I have a new vice. But produce a podcast myself? Oy. I don't think so. Like I said, life is short.