Podcast sites

Podcasts sounded rather marginal at first - like a fad for people with a lot of spare time. But organizations like NPR and CNN find them really useful. "NPR has used the podcasting format to test out programming ideas which may not have found a home within the limited schedules of ... public radion stations in the U.S." CNN "sees how podcasts are changing the way we digest news on a daily basis." I guess podcasts are another way to use the information it gets from its 1400 reporters.

After the recent tornado hits in Florida, I tried searching the term "tornadoes" on the Podscope site, but came up with links to general weather programs. Disappointing. Clicking on the "book reviews" led to an interesting New York Public Radio program during which Brian Lehrer interviewed John Updike about his new novel TERRORIST.

To find other podcast search sites, I searched Yahoo under "podcast search." The first listing was for "Yahoo! Podcasts" (it figures). It's a great-looking site that includes: "what the heck is a podcast?", "what we like this week" - new and noteworthy and staff picks, "what other people like", and "explore on your own" - main categories and popular tags.

Then I went to podcast.com. The "rooty podcasts (audio)" list has a SciFi category that included "MuggleCast - Muggle Net's harry Potter podcast". You can link to 74 episodes and get transcripts also. Podcast.com doesn't have many video podcasts but says that their popularity is rising due to video cellphones and digital video cameras.

I went to PodcastAlley.com and found a link to a program called "Amateur Traveler"; one episode featured a book collection of travel stories by young backpacker travelers. On the Podzinger.com site, I linked to a Handbell podcast. (I play them in a church choir.) I can't remember where I linked to the Iditarod podcast site, but it was really interesting - a way to broadcast the entire race and to promote interest in the race beforehand.