1.08.2008

Say hello to my little friend


I have already discussed the part where I'm not cool enough to own an iPod. But my sweet mother decided that I needed one of these things for Christmas, now that both she and my dad have one.

Am now well on my way to being cool. Have moved my stuff into iTunes, and will buy get a car adapter so I can once and for all thumb my nose at the redneck propaganda masquerading as radio channels and start listening to what I want to listen to, thank you very much.

Am also discovering the fascinating world of podcasts. Which always used to make me think of Pod People. And, really, still does. I imagine all these pale, sluggy people huddled in their dark bomb shelters receiving broadcasts from the Powers That Be about when the time will come for them to rise up and take over the world. If any of them are reading this, here's my word of advice: When the Rising Up occurs, I'd avoid the Mormon homes. It may seem like a good idea, what with the masses of food storage and the general niceness, but lots of them keep shotguns with their Potato Pearls. I, myself, do not keep loaded weapons in my pantry, but I also don't have much food in there. So you should probably skip me too.

So far I've subscribed to:

Grammar Girls' Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

NPR's Kitchen Window

Lonely Planet's Travel Stories

Does anyone have any favorites that I should check out?

22 comments:

N.F. said... [reply]

I LOVE podcasts on iTunes. Here are some you should look at:

1) Classic Speeches
2) The Daily Boost
3) My Thought Coach
4) Official Disneyland Resort Podcasts
5) TPN: The Jazz Show
6) WGBH Classical Performance

Jenny said... [reply]

Nice hand model!

Me again said... [reply]

I like www.thisamericanlife.org and www.cartalk.com

Both put out by NPR.

MBC said... [reply]

StoryCorps!

j said... [reply]

I regularly listen to the Slate Daily Podcast and Slate Explainer Podcast, which you might enjoy if you like Slate.com

Courtney said... [reply]

I like the New York Times' World podcast and CNN's New of the absurd. Also, Best of YouTube can be entertaining.

Unknown said... [reply]

I'm still not cool enough to own an iPod or even a cell phone. At this rate my kids will have those gadgets before I do.

Science Teacher Mommy said... [reply]

I'm trying really hard not to be jealous. I saved my money for like a year, bought my IPod. Then, three weeks later, Apple announced that YOUR model was coming out. I keep hoping mine will "accidentally" break so I have to trade up. Poopy Pirate did just about bite through one of my headphones, though.

abby said... [reply]

NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is humor for smart people. It's a news quiz show.

When I feel like being uber hip, I listen to All Songs Considered to learn about new music.

The NPR Shuffle is great if you want a digest of what is going on in NPR World.

BYU Classics and BYU Speeches or something like that just look up BYU on iTunes to relive those devotional days. I even have General Conference talks downloaded into my iPod. Follow lds.org's instructions for an MP3.

Kelly said... [reply]

I like Kitchen Window and everyone has already mentioned my two other mainstays: This American Life and Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. All of these have saved my life on my 2 hour daily commute.

I also like the Agatha Christie myteries, which kept me sane during my 8 hour commute in the blizzard a few weeks ago (I'm wondering how long I can milk the whole have pity on me for the 8 hour commute thing?) Just do a search in the iTunes store for Agatha Christie. There are some old ones (like the 1940's), which are sort of hard to hear, but the newer ones (the more recent podcasts) have good production value and every so often I recognize a voice from one of my favorite BritComs.

The Climate Connections podcasts are good, if a bit depressing. Basically every island country will soon be covered with water. The end.

Laura L said... [reply]

Slate's Audio Book Club (not updated frequently, but AWESOME) and Left, Right and Center (weekly political podcast with all sides represented. Also the 90-Second Naturalist. Oh, and if you need a daily news fix, BBC's Global News Highlights (don't forget "Highlights") is twice-daily and fabulouso.

Anonymous said... [reply]

I think it's the gutenburg project that has free audiobooks available online? I remember downloading Sherlock Holmes and Abbot and Costello from them.

I also keep a few videos on mine for those long waits that seem to occur.

Next step: put photos of my cuter-than-yours nieces and nephews on so I can show them off.

Carina said... [reply]

My musts are:
This American Life
Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me (great for housework or dishes)
Fresh Air

Lippy said... [reply]

I love my iPod so much! If I come across any podcasts you've missed here, I'll be sure to give you a holler.

Anonymous said... [reply]

Speaking of Faith and the New Yorker Fiction podcast

Nemesis said... [reply]

I KNEW asking you was a good idea. I promise I will check out every single one of these, even if I don't end up choosing all of them. Am very excited about all of your suggestions, especially since I look up to many of you as Great Minds.

Nemesis said... [reply]

Keep 'em coming, though!

N.F. said... [reply]

I cannot figure out how to get/download podcasts from a place other than iTunes...will someone help me please?

I looked at 1 of yours listed and am stuck, stuck, stuck...!

FoxyJ said... [reply]

I'm not sure where the link is, since I don't listen to podcasts, but there is a series called "Mormon Stories" that does interviews with all kinds of interesting Mormons.

Anonymous said... [reply]

nf - all a podcast is, is a downloadable audio file. SO some podcasts you might have to download and import into itunes as music.

Others have an rss feed and you can use the podcast feature in itunes to automatically import them. I believe they will show up in a separate "podcast" section (but I haven't used that functionality so I'm not sure).

I hope that wasn't a useless answer that you already knew. :)

N.F. said... [reply]

That makes tons of sense BEfore....thank you! Importing it in like I do some mp3s I get from facebook, etc.

Nem...I wanted to add one more podcast....NPR Driveway moments. They keep me so engaged and aren't very long, either.

Saxon said... [reply]

I have resisted the lure of the ipod

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...