Thing 17: Podcasts

I've been dragging my feet on this Thing because we can't download anything at our library. I've said before that I have dial-up, so doing it at home is a no go too. I thought the whole thing was a bust, and I was just going to have to make something up - disappointing too because I wanted to listen to Ricky Gervais' podcast. Well, when I did a search they had some free clips you could listen to online here. Hilarious! (Though I am easily won over by British accents - that and I already have a love for Ricky) It's just his usual banter with Stephen Merchant (cowriter/director), and this idiot man-child, Karl, on a particular topic. 3 guys sitting around talking, but it's brilliant! Why can't this be what's on the radio in the morning?

I was pleased to find, that when I searched further, I could find podcasts that could be played online, no download required. One of these sites, Mevio, you have to register for, but you can add favorite channels, and they even have videos, though it didn't seem to have that great of a selection. Then I found it's sister site, Podshow, which has a lot of music, but also has spoken word. I found another British comedy show, Traces of Nuts, that I listened to briefly and enjoyed. Podshow doesn't require you to register - you only have to do that if you want to do a podcast yourself, or if you're a music artist that wants to get on one of their channels. As far as music goes, I'm going to stick to Pandora. It's not really a podcast I guess, because it doesn't have individual episodes - it's really just radio online. I love it though, because by telling it what you like and dislike, it analyzes your music tastes and picks other songs for you to try. AND if you're listening and you think, "Why on earth did they think I'd like this?", you can click and it will tell you why it picked it out.

I've got more to try to learn as far as podcasts go. I don't think I'll be attempting my own anytime soon. It's bad enough I think people actually want to read what I write, but I think it would be a huge display of vanity to think they'd want to listen to me too.