Podcasts - The Basics Part 2

So what kind of podcasts do I listen to? A lot. These all fall into many of my areas of interest, you can find podcasts that are more your own tastes. See http://www.podcastpickle.com/ , http://podiobooks.com/ and the podcast area of the iTunes store for good starting places for finding podcasts. Once you start listening to a few, you almost certainly will hear promos in those shows for others you might like.

If you are into Sci-fi/speculative fiction, check out the Parsec Award http://parsecawards.com/ winners and nominees. The competition in most of the categories is such that all the nominees are winners in my book.


Audio Fiction - Novels: Many of these are available at http://podiobooks.com/ . If they are already completed podcast novels, I tend to get the chapters there. If they are in progress, I usually get them from the author's site. The Podiobooks.com version is closer to traditional audio books; the "author's direct" episodes typically include news and banter along with the book content - this is where you get to know the author and learn how to get involved personally.


I listen to all the books from Scott Sigler (http://www.scottsigler.com/), J.C. Hutchins (http://jchutchins.net/), Tee Morris (http://teemorris.com/), Nathan Lowell (http://solarclipper.com/), and Christiana Ellis (http://christianaellis.com/). I also recommend novels by Mur Lafferty (http://murverse.com/), Philippa Ballantine (http://www.chasingthebard.com/), and Seth Harwood (http://sethharwood.com/) - I just haven't listened to ALL their stuff. Again, check out the Parsec Awards nominees.

End of Part 2... Coming soon, Part 3 - More podcasts I listen to.

Podcasts - The Basics Part 1

I really like podcasts. Some people listen to music, others talk radio, or public radio. I listen to podcasts. They are kind of like "internet radio shows" you download to your computer and mp3 player. There are "video shows" available too - I just don't have a portable video player.

First of all they are free! (O.K. some aren't, but the vast majority are free.) If you have internet access (preferably high speed) and a computer, you can easily have access to any of thousands of these " shows". A portable MP3/media player is a good idea, with the Apple iPods being the most popular. The free program iTunes - you know the one you probably use to buy music (and maybe videos) - can be very easily used to subscribe to podcasts.

Subscribe? You know when you subscribe to a magazine, when a new issue is available it is mailed to you. When you subscribe to a podcast, iTunes (or some similar program) automatically downloads new episodes when they become available. Then it automatically syncs them with your iPod when you connect it to your computer. Pretty cool!

Oh and how do you subscribe to podcasts? You can search for them in iTunes. Also if you find a website for a podcast you are interested in, there almost always is a handy "subscribe in iTunes" button prominently displayed on the site.

I'm sure there are also really easy and cool ways to get podcasts on your iPhone, but I don't have one so ...

I actually use a slightly more involved process, since I am cheap and I can handle a few more steps - especially since it gives me a bit more control (a degree of control most people wouldn't care about - I'm a computer geek, it goes with the territory). I won't bore you with what I actually do, it would probably bore me to write it.

End of Part 1 ... Coming soon, Part 2 - What are these shows he's listening to?