Your Experience With Podcasts

[David]

I'm producing some professionally done podcasts for business purposes, and I'd be interested in your experience with that medium. If you don't mind, could you jot some quick thoughts on these questions? Thanks.

 

1) What podcasts examples come to mind as very well produced?

 

2) Regardless of production value, which ones do you listen to enough that you've gone ahead and subscribed to the feed?

 

3) Where do you listen to them? Bike? Car? Home? Office?

 

4) What length do you prefer, in minutes?

 

5) Do you listen to them more on your computer or a smaller, mobile device (like an iPod)?

 

Thanks, folks.

[ghaverkamp]

I'll just start by saying I'm not personally a big fan of podcasts. Many, as you seem to imply, are poorly produced. Many don't have content that isn't available elsewhere. Many people simply don't come off well in spoken form. Most have content that could be captured in written form, which is less intrusive, requires less time on my part, and allows for better location and retrieval.

 

That said...

 

1) What podcasts examples come to mind as very well produced?

 

I've listened to a couple NPR podcasts; they've all been well produced, and I even subscribe to one. Of course, they're really just recordings of their shows as broadcast, so one would expect them to be very well produced.

 

 

2) Regardless of production value, which ones do you listen to enough that you've gone ahead and subscribed to the feed?

 

I subscribe to two. One is a friend's, which I try to follow (and have appeared on once.) It's a retread of his old college radio show (he was the public affairs director -- i.e., talk show coordinator -- prior to me.) The other is NPR's "Talk of the Nation," which I've managed to listen to once.

 

3) Where do you listen to them? Bike? Car? Home? Office?

 

Now that I've started commuting by car and my car integrates with my iPod, my plan was to listen in my car. It turns out I don't drive enough. I've got better things to listen to at home, can't pay attention while I'm at work (and one of my work locations isn't in a position that would permit me to listen, anyway.)

 

In short, it's rare that I actually listen to the podcasts I subscribe to.

 

4) What length do you prefer, in minutes?

 

If a podcast gets much above a few minutes, I don't have time for it. Of course, if a podcast is less than about 15 minutes, it's seldom clear to me why the content wouldn't be better written than spoken. At least then, it would be scannable and searchable.

 

5) Do you listen to them more on your computer or a smaller, mobile device (like an iPod)?

 

Computer.

[f86sabre]

I'm producing some professionally done podcasts for business purposes, and I'd be interested in your experience with that medium. If you don't mind, could you jot some quick thoughts on these questions? Thanks.

 

1) What podcasts examples come to mind as very well produced?

NPR's All Songs Considered is very well put together, but it is intended for radio. This Week in Tech and any of the other TWIT (twit.tv) podcasts are very well done.

 

2) Regardless of production value, which ones do you listen to enough that you've gone ahead and subscribed to the feed?

The two mentioned above and Midweek Motorsports, Autoweek Podcast, Jumping Monkeys, F1 Rejects and a few others.

 

3) Where do you listen to them? Bike? Car? Home? Office?

Car and at work.

 

4) What length do you prefer, in minutes?

Increments of 30 minutes. My commute is 30 minutes and it is nice when I don't have to go fishing for something else to listen to while driving.

 

5) Do you listen to them more on your computer or a smaller, mobile device (like an iPod)?

I listen on my Ipod, usually via an FM transmitter in the car.

[smiller]

1) What podcasts examples come to mind as very well produced?

Generally the professional-sounding ones are, well, made by professionals, i.e. radio stations and other broadcasters. That's not to say that they are the only ones who can do a good job but there also certainly seem to be many who think that all one needs to do is pick up a mike. These are often difficult to slog through even if you are interested in the content.

 

2) Regardless of production value, which ones do you listen to enough that you've gone ahead and subscribed to the feed?

NPR news and Fidelity's investor training podcasts.

 

3) Where do you listen to them? Bike? Car? Home? Office?

Mobile (bike/car)

 

4) What length do you prefer, in minutes.

10-20 minutes is about right.

 

5) Do you listen to them more on your computer or a smaller, mobile device (like an iPod)?

Usually on a portable device.

 

[David]

Thanks, folks. This is helpful, and your experiences mirror mine. I subscribe to NPR's "Intelligence Squared" and "This American Life." They tend to be a tad long for my own interest level, though, and it's rare that I get through one at a sitting. Further, they tend to pile up in iTunes to the point where it detects the lack of activity and quits downloading more.

 

I listen on airplanes via iPod, exclusively.

 

Keep the thoughts coming.

[russell_bynum]

1) What podcasts examples come to mind as very well produced?

 

I don't listen to many, but the official MotoGP podcast is probably the best as far as production quality that I listen to. Next would be Soupkast (the Superbike Planet podcast), but they have a tendency to get their audio levels all screwy when they're interviewing someone over the phone. Dean (host) is REALLY loud and the interviewee is really soft. The audio quality of these phone interviews can be crappy as well. That's not such an issue if you're listening in a quiet environment, but I listen mostly in the car and that can be an issue.

 

2) Regardless of production value, which ones do you listen to enough that you've gone ahead and subscribed to the feed?

 

I always subscribe. If I don't like it then I just unsubscribe. I manage all of my podcasts through iTunes and listen on my iPod, so doing it ad hoc isn't really the way to go. Official MotoGP podcast, Soupkast, NRA News, and a few others I can't think of at the moment.

 

 

 

3) Where do you listen to them? Bike? Car? Home? Office?

 

Car.

 

 

4) What length do you prefer, in minutes?

 

Don't care. If it is interesting, I can listen for a long time.

 

5) Do you listen to them more on your computer or a smaller, mobile device (like an iPod)?

 

iPod.

[Bob Palin]

I'm producing some professionally done podcasts for business purposes, and I'd be interested in your experience with that medium. If you don't mind, could you jot some quick thoughts on these questions? Thanks.

 

1) What podcasts examples come to mind as very well produced?

The BBC podcasts are usually very well produced.

 

2) Regardless of production value, which ones do you listen to enough that you've gone ahead and subscribed to the feed?

Subscribe to all that I listen to (about 30).

 

3) Where do you listen to them? Bike? Car? Home? Office?

Mostly in the car or on the bike but sometimes while doing chores in the house and garden. By the nature of the podcasts I listen to I rarely sit down just to listen to them but if they were about professional subjects I probably would.

 

4) What length do you prefer, in minutes?

15-30 minutes max, any longer and they tend to get interrupted then I lose track of them.

 

5) Do you listen to them more on your computer or a smaller, mobile device (like an iPod)?

Almost always on my MP3 player (not an iPod!), sometimes I play them through the stereo from my MP3 player.

 

A few other things.

Make the file name meaningful, the BBC ones all have the show, time and date in the file name which makes it easy to build playlists, the NPR Science Friday podcasts now have some random number scheme for the file name which makes it very difficult.

Fill in the Title, Artist etc. meta data, don't abbreviate it.

Don't assume everybody uses iTunes and its management features.

 

Lastly I totally disagree with Greg, I think podcasts are one of the best things about the internet, they give me access to many things I couldn't get an other way, the BBC feeds for instance.

[Joel]

1) What podcasts examples come to mind as very well produced?

 

RadioLab from WNYC, This American Life, Pardon the Interruption from ESPN (cheating as a podcast since it is just the audio from the TV show)

 

2) Regardless of production value, which ones do you listen to enough that you've gone ahead and subscribed to the feed?

 

All of the above, plus Prairie Home Companion's News from Lake Wobegon (cheating - recorded from the radio show) and 3 others from ESPN, only one of which is a true podcast.

 

3) Where do you listen to them? Bike? Car? Home? Office?

 

Mainly at or around home while exercising, although I got caught up on my backlog of This American Life episodes during my SS1000 (need to do another one, they're stacking up again)

 

4) What length do you prefer, in minutes?

 

15-30 minutes. My problem with This American Life and Radio Lab is that they're longer and I tend to want to listen to them all the way through in one stretch, but I rarely allow myself an hour of quiet time like that. But, that's my issue, not theirs.

 

5) Do you listen to them more on your computer or a smaller, mobile device (like an iPod)?

 

Almost exclusively on my iPods.

[ghaverkamp]

Lastly I totally disagree with Greg, I think podcasts are one of the best things about the internet, they give me access to many things I couldn't get an other way, the BBC feeds for instance.

 

But in that sense, they're just another means of transmitting radio. That's wildly different than created-for-Internet content, most of which sucks.

[Bob Palin]

Lastly I totally disagree with Greg, I think podcasts are one of the best things about the internet, they give me access to many things I couldn't get an other way, the BBC feeds for instance.

 

But in that sense, they're just another means of transmitting radio. That's wildly different than created-for-Internet content, most of which sucks.

Yes, I think of them as TIVO for radio, but not any old radio, radio I can't get (not all is available streaming)

 

Only a couple of my podcasts are not radio, The Brain Science Podcast, which while the production values are variable is very good for content, and 60 Second Science from Scientific American which makes a great separator between longer podcasts.