I don't even remember when it started it has been so long ago. I think the forerunner was when I discovered a place you could go to download old time radio programs. I love those things. In my search for those I found that there are people that are making the equivalent of radio talk show programs with current news and topics that you can download and listen to at your own time and convenience and best of all for me at your own listening speed. I have been hooked ever since.
Just to let you know, my favorite app is still the for Android Podcast Addict. It takes a little time to learn but it is intuitive enough. It does a pretty good job of finding and managing pods and my favorite part is you can take it too 11. Okay not quite 11 but 5X if you are so inclined. That is fast even for me. I can run many things around 3X which means I can get it an hour program in about 20 minutes, just about right for a nice walk. Except for Tony Robbins who gets excited and talks faster than most or Roy H. Williams whose Monday Morning Memo is so rich and deep I have to slow it down so I can take it all in. I can set each pod to play at its own best speed and adjust on the fly if I need to. It occasionally goes fuzzy at those higher speeds when the screen goes to sleep on my old Amazon Fire phone but beyond that one thing it is a solid app.
I am still looking for the best solution for my Apple iPhone. They have a player but it only goes to 2X which is a step backward for me so right now friends and family look at me funny and are always asking me why do you carry around two phones?
So what is a Pod exactly? The best way to describe it is a mini radio program though some are starting to delve into video. The topics are all over the place and there is sure to be something you would be interested in, and it is easy to subscribe to an individual Podcast where you can work your way through all the episodes they have produced or just select individual episodes from whomever based on your favorite subject matters just search on a word and see what comes up.
If you are into lifelong learning there are pods that will teach you just about any subject you can think of. If there is a passion you have in any area of life, there are others that share that passion and are producing a podcast about it. If you are into self-development, religion, science, planes, trains and automobiles, politics, business, health, fitness, language, winners and losers, and everything in between you can probably find something that someone has done a show about it. And if you can't find something then feel free to start producing your own. Just came back here a let us know about it. I am loving it.
Many people have gotten their introduction to podcast by word of mouth from friends and many get their first taste from one of the highly popular Pods such as Tim Ferris of four hour work week fame, Freakonomics, or This American Life or one of the NPR productions, such as Paula Poundstone Institute or the Ted Radio Hour though I think I prefer the actual Ted Talks themselves which you can also find.
The production values are better with the bigger budgets but I find the that smaller self produced stuff is every bit as good and often has higher quality content, especially if you are getting burned out on political correctness and people with an agenda. Don't get me wrong, there is some junk out there...a lot of junk and of course some of it I will listen to anyway like a wreck you can't help but look at but my bar is getting ever higher as I realize that 1. I am not getting any younger and so time is a factor and I want to spend time to the best value added activities possible and 2. It is a big world out there, a really really big world out there. If what you are listening to now ain't cutting it then go ahead and move on. There is a good chance that the next thing will be better. The more you experience, the better able you are to recognize and make the better choice. (Hint: always make the better choice.)
This was my intro entry. I plan on adding some other entries later telling you what I have been listening to. I have some can't miss Pods that I look forward to anxiously. I already mentioned Roy H Williams and his Monday Morning Memo. I have been following him over 10 years now. Others I have started at episode one and binge listened till I was current, or at least well on my way.
More to come.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.
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