Initial thoughts on podcasting

I have to admit that although podcasting has piqued my interest, it took Apple's adding a podcast directory to iTunes 4.9 for me to give it a try.

The podcast directory in iTunes has plenty of content to choose from. Everything is nicely organized by category and subcategory, and there are plenty o' categories to browse. Business, comedy, art, news, music, it's all there and it'll take quite some time to sift through all of the content available.

So far, I've found some steady standards, a few gems, and a several that I've just had to throw back into the podcast pond. I have to admit that my expectations are high, but the truth of the matter is that a lot of what's available is just repackaged versions of mainstream TV and radio content. Radio translates just fine, but a lot of the TV content does not (for obvious reasons). The exceptions to this are those TV programs that are of the fast-paced talk variety, like ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.

Although I'm a huge Mac fan, I must admit that I've been a bit bored listening to Inside Mac. I was bit weary of Macromedia's podcast fearing that I had just downloaded a seven minute marketing program, but it turns out that the marketing department had no involvement. Although most of my you reading this might not agree listening to actual Macromedia software engineers is very enlightening.

The true gem, in my opinion, came to me this week when hearing an NPR All Things Considered interview with folk and blues artist, Jeff Black. I won't get into the details of the NPR piece (give it a listen) but I will say Jeff's the kind of artist I admire, not just for his musical talent, but for his opinion of what music is and should remain.

I'll try to share my thoughts as I explore the other offerings in the podcast world. I'm off to try out Harry Shearer's le show and The Al Franken Show.