As I write this, I’m listening to NPR’s “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!” which aired over the weekend. Before that, I listened to Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4. Earlier in the day was a show called “Movies You Should See,” where I listened to a group of friends in Leeds, U.K. talk about the Japanese film Zatoichi - and MYSS is a program that is only available on the Internet.
I think podcasts are a brilliant use of RSS technology. Though not 100% technically accurate, the description “Tivo for radio” fits the way I approach my podcast feeds in iTunes. Whether I’m free and near a radio to catch NPR programs I like is very hit or miss, and for many specialized topics there simply no radio shows in my broadcast area. Podcasting lets me work through programs in my own time (right now I’ve got about 60 Unplayed items, down for 100 a couple months ago). Some shows are ported from radio, others are podcast only programs (such as GeekNights or Movies You Should See), and many are short fiction feeds - an online audio adaptation of fiction digests.
This flexibility of podcasting is why I love it. Unlike traditional broadcast mediums, the content I have access to is not limited by a bureaucrat at a network office. With podcasts, the distribution line is simple - a content creator creates a podcast, and if I’m interested in it I subscribe. I’m no longer limited by when something is on the air, or what channels I have access to.
It’s been said that the Internet represents the democratization of media. This is extraordinarily true for podcasts, and why they’re worth checking out.
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