who's into podcasts? Favorites?

[ladelfina]

I've had a 20G iPod for 5 years (going-away gift from bus. partners). It never attracted my interest all that much.. I put a couple of CDs on it, but don't have a desire to listen to music when I am out and about, so it languished. Then talking with my sister about how she likes to listen to rightwing talk radio on the computer, I got the brilliant idea that she might like an iPod so she is not stuck in one place. So that's what I'm sending her... one of the tiny shuffle ones for now so she can download her shows and go. [And how great of a sister am I enabling her to listen to Laura Ingraham to her heart's content, huh??] I wanted to make sure she'd like this as a gift, and she said "it'd be like having a maid!!" since she could now do boring housework and listen at the same time.

So today I popped in a couple of shows myself.. and I got the fridge cleaned. Pretty awesome. Started off with Bill Moyers and this segment is just excellent:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=34053816&id=161038776

Andrew J. Bacevich.. really good on the whole political system and foreign policy. [Vietnam vet, conservative, son killed in Iraq, so you have NO excuse not to listen!!!] I would vote for HIM for president! ;-)

----
I'm sure it'll take me a while to explore the universe of podcasts.. so in the meantime, is there anyone who subscribes to audio podcasts regularly? And if so, "what's on your iPod?" (besides music tracks..)

 

[Sarah in SC]

Update every day!
Dave Ramsey
NPR Story of the Day
NPR Business Story of the Day
Amateur Traveler
The Onion
Wall Street Journal Your Money Matters
Wall Street Journal What's News
Vanguard Plain Talk
Brian Preston's The Money Guy
On the Money with Steve Pomeranz
Slate Explainer Podcast
Indie Travel Podcast
Fitness Rocks

Couldn't live without the iPod, not even for a day! I haven't had to listen to a radio station in over 3 years...no car commercials!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You havent lived until you've listened to one of Ho$uc's podcasts. He's got a dozen or so out. They keep getting 4-5 minutes longer as they're released. He starts off with a nice measured, calm tone and he's good and manic by the end.

 

[Sarah in SC]

OMG, that is awesome! I must listen! Thanks for the tip, CFB. I had no idea I could listen to the Ho$uc Pearls of Wisdom whispered in my ear...ooooh....sexy!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm sorry, they're "robcasts", not podcasts...

Personal Finance Podcasts

A partial listing...

Podcast #1 (32 minutes) -- July 18, 2008 -- Buy-and-Hold Cannot Work -- Here's Why
Podcast #2 (32 minutes) -- July 25, 2008 -- Passive Investing vs. Rational Investing
Podcast #3 (32 minutes) -- August 1, 2008 -- Few Dare to Tell the Truth About Stock Investing
Podcast #4 (35 minutes) -- August 8, 2008 -- I'd Be the Growlingest Bear on the Internet If Only I Were A Bear
Podcast #5 (32 minutes) -- August 15, 2008 -- The Great Safe-Withdrawal-Rate Debate
Podcast #6 (32 minutes) -- August 21, 2008 -- Rob Bennett, the Reluctant Investing "Expert"
Podcast #7 (38 minutes) -- August 22, 2008 -- I Know More About Investing Than John Bogle (and You Can Too!)
Podcast #8 (40 minutes) -- August 28, 2008 -- The Coming Revolution in Investing Advice
Podcast #9 (43 minutes) -- August 27, 2008 -- The True Bogleheads

 

[NotReady4Purple]

Colonial Williamsburg Podcasts - I'm a History/re-enactmant fan - Avalilable free from iTunes.

 

[ERD50]

KCRW's Left, Right & Center (sometimes balanced convo's, usually a contest to see who can make their point over the other person, but occasional insights)

NPR Science Friday

But just do some searching in iTunes, you are bound to find fascinating stuff. Also, check the 'similar' threads below - some good stuff I think.

-ERD50

 

[clifp]

My podcast list is similar to Sarah's.

Still I am amazed that nobody has brought up NPR fabulous "This American Life", generally two 25 minutes stories on a common theme, and for you News junkies, NPR Wait Wait don't tell me, a news quiz show is a lot of fun.

As for Hocu$, CFB you are sick puppy, and Sarah I figured you were a bit of masochist after the CFP course, but calling his podcast sexy, I am speechless.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Well, to be fair, I hadn't heard it, I was just imagining how fabulous his voice would be when his posts are so, well, insane.
I haven't been brave enough to listen yet, even though CFB's description intrigues me.

I had This American Life for a while, but it was stressing me out not to have time to listen to the whole thing. I like the shorter ones that I can sneak in while driving, and my commute is usually about 30-45 minutes, and I like some variety during that time.

 

[harley]

I don't own an iPod, but I might have to get one to listen to "I Know More About Investing Than John Bogle (and You Can Too!)". That sounds like an instant classic. I used to lurk at the retire early home page site back when he was in full swing, and he was always entertaining, up until I started tearing my hair out.

Is he still up in Purcellville VA? I'm buying a townhouse a couple miles from there next month. Maybe I can go learn at the master's feet!

 

[Sarah in SC]

Cliff, you've got your new candidate for Masochist of the year, and it ain't me! Harley, I double dog dare you to show up for a lesson at his house!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh you dont have to listen to much of old Hoc's podcast. Ten or fifteen seconds in the middle of any one of them will give you the gist. He sounds eerily like one would imagine Renfield to be.

I'm not sure where he lives now, I've been out of the game of Poke-the-Hoc as an accompaniment to my morning coffee. Last I heard his all fixed income scheme and self publication of books that nobody bought left him with under a quarter million in cash. I think he sold his house and his wife left him. Of course, you can always stop by the official Hocaquarium and catch up on his latest exploits.

Rob Bennett's Best of Hocomania Discussion Forum - Index

I will warn you that its reminiscent of Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee going into the hotel room in Manhattan and seeing a tv and remarking "I saw one of those once about 20 years ago", he turns it on and there's Lucille Ball and he says "Yep, thats what I saw".

 

[ERD50]

I don't own an iPod, but I might have to get one to listen to ...

You don't need a device to listen. You can download the podcasts and listen on the computer. iTunes is probably the easiest way, sometimes there are links directly to the podcasts, and I'm sure there are other SW alternatives.

-ERD50

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You can also get an old style Shuffle for about $20, or a refurb unit for not a lot more.

 

[Gardnr]

All audio only; I use an IPOD shuffle

NPR Talk of the Nation
The Ray Lucia Show
The Diane Rehm Show
Sound Investing
Meet the Press
On Point with Tom Ashbrook
Car Talk
Left, Right and Center
Dave Ramsey
Clark Howard
Washington Week
Radio Lab
Whad'Ya Know?
Marketplace Morning Report
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me

I don't get to them all every week, but I do listen to a lot. It's great for when I'm working outside or waiting in airports.

 

[ERD50]

iTunes/iPod TIPS

I found that with a big list of podcasts such as Gardnr has, it gets to be a bit of a hassle to locate the latest ones, and move those into your iPod. iTunes seems to keep things grouped by podcast, and you can only sort within that grouping. So, here's my solution:


In iTunes, create a new 'Smart Playlist' (under 'File menu'). Name it something like 'Recent Podcasts', and add two RULES (check 'match ALL'):

1) PODCAST is TRUE

2) DATE ADDED is after <todays' date> ( or 'within X days/weeks/months)

Now, when anything new gets added, an alias to it is placed in this playlist, and you can look and drag any/all of these to your device. It really doesn't matter much about the date or range choice, the important thing is you CAN sort this smart playlist by DATE ADDED, and keep the recently added ones at the top of the list.

One more - if some of your podcasts are short, or you really want to listen to a bunch in a row without stopping to select them, try this:

in iTunes (and with device plugged in) select the device. Create a New Playlist on that device. Now, copy any podcasts you want into that playlist. Once you start playing from that playlist, they will play in order w/o a pause at the end (just like songs).

FYI, all of this 'copying' is just copying the pointers to the songs/podcasts, not the actual song/podcast file - you won't be using up a lot of memory for this.

NOTE: tip#2 won't apply to a shuffle, unless they have updated them, you can't create playlists on them.

-ERD50

 

[clifp]

Wow ERD thanks I didn't even know that was possible with iTUNES. I have been frustrated with old podcasts, since many of mine are topical and I don't listen to podcast consistently.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh come on Clif, that mac stuff is so intuitive and obvious you should have figured it out with no problems.

 

[yakers]

I had a few issues of The Economist on my ipod when I was traveling, listened to them patched into the car radio. Also books on tape, looong Oprah books for my wife. The only show I used to listen to regularly when I was working was Car Talk.
CFB, I have to resist listening to H@cus, I am worried that I would not be able to get the voice out of my head, its bad enough reading where it is easier to keep the necessary mental distance.

 

[ERD50]

Oh come on Clif, that mac stuff is so intuitive and obvious you should have figured it out with no problems.

Yep, there are some less than intuitive things in iTunes - I agree. At least with some of these built in features, I had work-arounds.

Got a good alternative? A little googling and the most promising one I say was 'Juice', however:

In 2006 the team effectively stopped further development of the program, the developers started working in other fields some Podcasting related.

-ERD50

 

[Gardnr]

I found that with a big list of podcasts such as Gardnr has, it gets to be a bit of a hassle to locate the latest ones, and move those into your iPod. iTunes seems to keep things grouped by podcast, and you can only sort within that grouping.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying here but I just keep the Podcasts (in iTunes) sorted by release date (but they stay grouped by Podcast too) and select the ones I want to listen to and drag them to the IPOD. I delete Podcasts as I go along after I've listened to them. Works for me. But I'll take a look at what you're suggesting and see how it works.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Got a good alternative?

I use windows media player. In six feet of snow, uphill, both ways.

Its complicated, hard to figure out, and doesnt work half the time.

And I like it that way.

 

[ERD50]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying here but I just keep the Podcasts (in iTunes) sorted by release date (but the stay grouped by Podcast too) and select the ones I want to listen to and drag them to the IPOD. I delete Podcasts as I go along after I've listened to them. Works for me. But I'll take a look at what you're suggesting and see how it works.

(but they stay grouped by Podcast too) - right, and this is what bugged me (but maybe does not bug other people).

If I have 20 podcasts subscriptions for example, and 12 of them got updated, I need to go through, find, and select those 12 new ones, one-by-one, out of the 20. With the smart playlist, those 12 are all at the top of the list - I don't have to search among the 20 podcasts to find them.

If you delete everything as you go, maybe this is no big deal. I guess you can just copy them all over, it would skip duplicates anyway. I have a ton of old ones that I have not gotten to, but plan to (someday...). And a bunch that I have listened to, but keep in case I want to review them.

You must be one of those 'clean desk' people I'm not!

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

I use windows media player. In six feet of snow, uphill, both ways.

Its complicated, hard to figure out, and doesnt work half the time.

And I like it that way.

Well that explains a lot!

But I didn't see podcast support in WMP. So don't you need to add something like Juice to it?

-ERD50

 

[Gardnr]

You must be one of those 'clean desk' people

Oh God no! You should see my garage!

For some reason though I keep my iTunes neat and tidy.