Podcast Discovery

I’ve been paying more attention to the phenomenon of podcasting lately, especially now that it’s clear to me that it doesn’t mean I have to own an Apple product and use an obscure format to download and listen to audio. I’ve always had a strong preference for learning via the audio medium. I heard a guy the other day pontificating (ironically on a podcast) that the text medium for learning was superior to the linear medium of audio. This may be true, but audio, being passive, has the advantage of allowing for multitasking. There are certain unpleasant things in life that simply have to be done, like doing menial tasks at work or jogging or driving around town to do errands. Why not learn something that will make me a more effective webmaster while doing these tasks?

Podcasting seems to be being defined as either simply downloadable audio or more specifically as a syndicatable blog post in audio format. Because large numbers of people can create podcasts, there are plenty of experts talking about every niche subject imaginable. Webmaster topics like web marketing, eccomerce, web hosting and domains are no exceptions. Many podcasts I’ve heard are simply news oriented. Some of my favorites are interviews of the very people whose web sites we love to visit. I always enjoy getting a glimpse of the personality behind the people who propel my favorite sites. I guess many of these people are sort of like celebrities, but they won’t be appearing on the cover of People magazine any time soon (thankfully).

Outside of TechTV or the occasional National Public Radio coverage of tech topics, audio broadcasts of interest to the webmaster have been hard to come by. A few podcast sites that I’m still exploring but have found very interesting are Webmaster Radio –my favorite show is SEO RockStars with host Todd (Oilman) Friesen and WSRadio.com’s SEORadio hosted by Brad Fallon, which seems to have ceased, but I’ve been plowing through the archives. A broader range of topics exist on Yahoo’s own podcast directory which is in beta now but looks sure to be a hit. The service allows downloading, subscriptions and even publishing of online audio shows. Categories include arts, business, music, politics and technology.

Podcasts appear to be yet another avenue of Internet choices that empower people to be better at whatever they enjoy doing.