ENTRY 3. listening podcasts and applications.

 ListI spend the equivalent of a part-time job working at my computer or laptop, and that’s usually with audio turned on. On top of that, I have my cell phone almost everywhere with me and when I’m in the car; I usually plug it in and listen to the audio through my car’s speaker system.

What do I listen to? Podcasts.

Podcasts are free audio programs distributed over the Internet. You can download them and listen to them as you please, essentially creating a radio station focused entirely on the topics you want to listen to. There are podcasts out there covering almost any topic that you can imagine – and probably dozens of podcasts on that topic.

Because you can choose programs that match your interests and can swap programs in and out as you wish, it becomes much like having a customized radio station for yourself that you can even take with you wherever you go if you have a smartphone.

What are the basic things I need to know?

Podcasts really aren’t that different than any other kind of radio program. The only difference is that podcast creators distribute the episodes of their program over the Internet for everyone to listen to rather than using a traditional radio station.

Because podcasting is a very “do it yourself” format, podcasts vary greatly in quality. Some are recorded in professional studios, others in nice home studios with great microphones, and still others are recorded on a cell phone or with a simple cheap microphone. Some are hosted by people with great radio voices, while others are hosted by people who are excitedly nervous. I actually like this and consider it a feature; it’s really cool to listen to a podcast from someone who is doing it just because they love the topic they’re talking about.

How do people find interesting podcasts to listen to? Most of the time, people listen to podcasts using a podcast manager. A podcast manager is simply a piece of software that helps you find podcasts to listen to and keeps track of which podcast episodes you’ve listened to (and which ones you’ve haven’t). One feature that most podcast managers have is to simply listen to all of your unlistened podcast episodes.

Most of the time, people use their podcast manager software to find a new podcast and then they listen to an episode or two. If they like what they hear, they can usually subscribe to that podcast. What that means is that when a new episode of that podcast is released, that new episode appears almost immediately in your podcast manager so you can listen to it at your convenience.

Many popular programs already on the radio – particularly public radio programs – are also available in podcast form, so you can mix those in with other podcasts that don’t actually air on a radio station.