Directory of Podcasts

What's a podcast? A podcast is an Internet audio program made available so you can listen to it on a portable audio device, like your iPod, thus the name podcast. However you don't have to have an iPod to listen to a podcast; as I understand it most MP3 players can do the trick. (You can get an enormous article packed with resources on learning about podcasts and how to make the most of them at Wikipedia's site, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting .) But there's more...

I've done something similar with my MP3 player via the service Audible for many years. Sometimes it's neat to be able to download the Wall Street Journal and then go walk around the block. However Audible does have some disadvantages: for the most part it's a pay service, there's a limited number of audio devices to which their services can be transferred, and the offerings are limited. (For example, if I wanted to start a weekly radio show dedicated to searching, I doubt very much I'd be able to get it on Audible.)

Pod casts are more open, which is both good and bad (as you know if you've used a search engine for any length of time, having very filtered data flows has its own set of advantages as disadvantages, as does having almost nonfiltered data flows.) If you're interested in exploring the more open audio word of podcasting, get thee to Podcast.net ( http://www.podcast.net ).

Podcast.net is a searchable-subject index of Pod casts. Categories and some sub-categories are listed on the front page. I would guess there's maybe a little less than a thousand podcasts here. In addition to the categories listed on the front page, you can also see the top ten played shows, the most recently-added shows, and at the lower left of the page you get links to downloading software so you can listen to podcasts yourself (some of these appear to be free standalones, while I saw at least one that looked like the client software for a service.)

The podcasts themselves are searchable by keyword or browsable by subject. I went to the "Learning & Instruction" category, which has a few subcategories including biographies, how-to, education, and reference. The listings here were kinda odd, with some listings being quite understandable (Really Learn Spanish) while others weren't (I didn't understand how "audioblogs.info" was educational.) New offerings are listed at the top of the page, while newest episodes for the last several days are listed on the right side of the page. There is an RSS feed for the category itself.

You do not have to download the podcasts onto an audio device to get a sense of them. Each listing contains show name, categories under which it is listed, and author. Some shows also contain an episode listing. Clicking on the name of the podcast will take you to a page will a list of episodes with Play links for each episode and an RSS feed for just that program. There's also a Web link to the Web site to the podcast's affiliated Web site.

Oh yes, the Play link. The Play icon pops up a window which plays the podcast in Quicktime. If you're looking for something to listen to just to get a sense of it, try Really Learn Spanish, which has three episodes and a very polished 'cast.

I am still new to podcasts, and I was surprised at the breadth of content that's available (some of which isn't work-safe.) The software's going to have to smooth out a bit before I'll get habitual about throwing some podcasts in my iRiver on the way out the door.

If you want to learn more about podcasting check out PodcastAlley ( http://www.podcastalley.com/ , they've got a nice overview of the software available), PodcastBunker ( http://www.podcastcentral.com/ -- really extensive reviews -- apparently all podcasts are listened to before they're added to the site), and How to Podcast in Three (Relatively) Easy Steps ( http://www.howtopodcast.org/ ).

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