A little while ago, I loaded up my nano with fresh episodes of podcasts so I’ll have something to listen to this weekend should the opportunity arise (which it probably will, even if I don’t manage to get around to doing any sewing and instead listen while I fold laundry, though I have been know to not fold the laundry in a timely manner, figuring if the clothes are clean they don’t necessarily have to be put away since it is possible to get dressed by grabbing underwear from the basket and a shirt and pants off a pile in the family room if need be). I listen to a lot fewer podcasts than I did a year ago. Some of the shows have podfaded, but some I’ve dropped in favor of ones that better fit my idea of what a good podcast is. I’m pickier about podcasts I listen to than websites I visit regularly, because I can’t skim the podcasts. Yes, there is a fast forward button on the nano, but using it is not the same as scanning a page to see if there’s anything I want to read.
The podcasts I like best stick to some sort of structure from week to week (and they also come out week after week rather than on a sporadic basis which tends to lead me to not bother to check for updates regularly). Knowing what to expect means I can match the show to the time I’ve got and the state of mind I’m in. If I have no idea if an episode is going to be six minutes or a half an hour, I’m not that keen on pressing “play” because I hate to listen to only part of something and maybe I don’t have thirty minutes just then. Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me is perfect for my commute: always less than an hour and always makes me laugh, which really helps when I’m faced with the tedium of traffic. I’ve pretty much given up all knitting podcasts except Sticks & String and KnitPicks, because I can count on both of them to talk about knitting (projects, patterns, books) in a way that’s informative and relaxing to listen to. When I’ve got plenty of time, I click on DIS Unplugged to listen to people I’m sure I’d like if I met them talk about Disney.
I’ve toyed with the idea of doing a podcast myself—the quilting podcast I want to listen to but haven’t be able to find—but the more I learn about it the time it takes to do a good one, especially the editing, the lower down on my list of things to maybe do someday it slips.
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