A World of Podcasts

I've been following a few podcasts for a while, the one I listen to regularly is MacTalk Australia, which obviously covers the latest happenings in the Apple Macintosh world, with a good dose of iPhone news as well. Unfortunately my current job is on the other side of town which means far too much driving, so podcasts are a way of adding some variety to my listening whilst stuck in traffic. The only problem now seems to be deciding what to listen to next.

Being a Mac user with an iPod, I have iTunes installed anyway and find it the easiest way to access podcasts (more on this later).

For the purposes of this exercise, I went looking for a few more podcasts of a less technical nature (and thus probably of wider appeal).

Stephen Fry, the English actor, comedian, and author has a podcast on his web site, also accessible from the iTunes Store. Being someone who is a performer and public figure, he has a very relaxed, easy delivery which is a delight to listen to.

I also found a series of Philosophy lectures, which I have not had a chance to listen to yet, but having been introduced to some of the classical philosophers many years ago by way of an engaging work of fiction, Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, this looks like a convenient way of learning some more about their ideas. Once again available through the iTunes Store, but also here as well.

Back to iTunes, it is an incredibly powerful and sophisticated tool to access not just podcasts, but other forms of multimedia as well. Although the primary justification for the existence of the iTunes Store is commercial, it collects and manages a wealth of free content, including music, video, university courses and of course the podcasts. It is an excellent example of a Web 2.0 application, adding value to the collected content with user reviews, recommendations and artist biographies.