I realised something the other day – having started with podcasts around a year ago (I first posted about them when iTunes added support), I now spend more time listening to podcasts than I do watching TV, with well over ten hours of podcasts dropping into iTunes every week and barely four hours of TV holding my attention every week. That’s pretty unbelievable to me, but I guess the fact that I can get cool shows on stuff that really interests me is very appealing.
Anyway, I thought I’d list a selection of my favourites so that people can give them a try and share some of theirs. I need to feed this addiction.
- Gaming Steve – I had to start with a gaming one, right? This is simply the best video game podcast out there, which is often extremely long (he frequently breaks two hours), but Steve is a great talker who knows his stuff. He also gets really good interviews and exhaustive previews.
- this WEEK in TECH – Hosted by Leo Laporte and friends as well as guest panellists, TWiT is just a chat about the latest technology developments and is always good fun. One of the most popular podcast on the Internet.
- Best of Moyles – A weekly half-hour of the best bits from Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles’ show. Usually great if you like Moyles (I know a lot of people who don’t).
- Hometown Tales – Urban legends, ghost stories, and just general weirdness from around the world. It’s all based on a popular public access show and makes for entertaining listening.
- MacCast – Probably the best podcast out there for Apple fans. Commentary on news as well as tips and occasional interviews.
- Mark Kermode’s Film Reviews – The weekly movie reviews from Mark Kermode, taken from Five Live every Friday. Kermode knows his stuff and there’s a lot of amusing banter.
- The Dawn and Drew Show – Daily random and often crude (in a good way) chat with a married couple from Wisconsin. It’s good fun and episodes 268 and 269 are actually an interview with them done by me.
- Inside The Magic – The first podcast I ever listened to, and since the one year anniversary is this week it also marks a year since I started listening to podcasts. It’s a weekly show with Disneyworld and general Disney news, and comes with a lot of good behind-the-scenes information, especially about new rides and overhauls.
- The Onion Radio News – One minute a day with a story taken from the awesomeness that is the satirical “news” paper The Onion. If you’ve never been there you should take a look because they frequently come out with classics such as this.
- UK DVD Review – Ten minutes a week on the latest UK DVD releases from a guy with an unhealthy Battlestar Galactica obsession. He takes full credit for personally getting me into the show so he deserves a place on here just for that.
So does anyone else listen to any good podcasts? Let’s have some recommendations.
Wot no ‘Hotspot’?! (Gamespot.com The Hotspot); surely listening to Jeff Gerstmann’s repartee is worth it alone! :o)
Other ones you should check out: Diggnation (with Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht) and 1UP.com 1UP Radio(at least whenever Garnett Lee is hosting – much more palletable than the girl that used to host it, also has some genuinely interesting things to say).
I’d also recommend Major Nelson’s podcast but he has a tendancy to gush such that everything related to the Xbox 360 platform is ‘amazing’ or ‘awesome’. Although he tries to present his opinions – the stuff he ommits, or cannot talk about beyond towing his employers line means his podcasts are usually less than informative; unfortunately the same constraints apply to his interviews he conducts with the rest of the Xbox team. That said, he does (IMHO) succeed in promoting the consensus that Microsoft is listening to its customers.
Major Nelson is on my subscription list but I can’t help but feel like it’s a big sycophantic PR exercise. It’s nice to have someone who obviously is active in the community and his interviews are often great, but you’re never going to hear anything bad about the Xbox on it.
The Hotspot is there too and Gerstmann is the highlight, but all should bow before Gaming Steve when it comes to gaming podcasts. I’ll try out some of the others either way.