Today is the final episode of this season's Serial podcast. Along with 5 million other listeners, I'm crazy stoked about discovering how Sarah Koenig manages to wrap up this intriguing story about Adnan.
But unlike watching the final episode of Sons of Anarchy or Breaking Bad, I have very few people in my immediate circle of connections to discuss it with. Sure I can discuss in online in forums and on Twitter and even listen to a podcast about it, but being a podcast junkie, I often can't understand why everyone else isn't listening to podcasts.
Andy Bowers explains his perspective on why in his reflections on 10 years of podcasting:
Podcast technology sucks. It was abysmal 10 years ago, and has evolved to barely adequate today. In those early years, you had to download podcasts to your computer and then sync them through a cable onto your iPod or other MP3 player. It was slow, tedious, and often didn’t work...
The debut of the iPhone in 2007 promised to improve things, but it still took years of app development and faster data networks to get us where we are today: Anyone with a smartphone and the willingness to try can probably, with some help, play a podcast. But if you’ve ever attempted to connect a podcast app to your car’s sound system via Bluetooth, I suspect you’ll agree with me that we aren’t there yet. Podcasting continues to fail my basic technological test—it’s still a lot harder than turning on a radio.
Podcasts are smart, funny, enlightening radio on demand. They are like a DVR for constant learning. So if your interested in joining the podcast movement here's a few tools to get you started:
- How to listen to a podcast tutorial from 85+ year old Mary Ahearn (and Ira Glass)
- The 25 Best Podcast Episodes Ever
- Podcasts recommendations from KCUR Staff
And my current recommendation for new podcast listeners is Working by David Plotz. In the tradition of Studs Terkel, Plotz interviews people of various professions about what they do all day. The conversation with Stephen Colbert is especially entertaining.
I'm off to listen to Serial!