I discovered quite recently the concept of podcasts as a regular consumer, and I must say I am now addicted to it, and I now listen to podcasts all the time: while commuting from and to work, when I go to the gym, when I go running, unfortunately haven't found yet a way to listen while swimming...
I have always been looking to ways to make unused time useful, especially commuting time. I have tried a lot, reading books, looking at videos and webcast on my portative Archos player. And I have found nothing more convenient than audio podcasts! A lot does to it, it is weightless, you can listen in any position, any light condition, and it is so easy to just plug-in your MP3 player when you're back home to get automatic downloads of the new episodes of your favourite podcasts!
I have started my podcast experience by listening to .NET Rocks! Can't even remember the first show I listened but I LOVED it. Since then I have subscribed to other technical podcasts that I regularly listen like Hanselminutes and Software Engineering radio. I have tried once the Polymorphic podcast but was never really convinced. And I must say my favourite remains still .NET Rocks! Great contents, great guests and … real fun! Richard and Carl definitively know how to entertain the audience and make even very technical matters very enjoyable: you can be sure to have several laughs during the listening, which doctors say is very good for your health!
I like Hanselminutes podcasts too, the shows are a bit shorter, making them sometime more convenient to listen if you don't have that much time and don't want to split the listening.
The Software Engineering radio have some good podcasts too. Interesting thing is that this podcast is not specific to any technology, bringing yet another view to some subject (.NET Rocks! and Hanselminutes are specifically shows around Microsoft technologies). However… the shows can be a bit boring in that you will not laugh at all. Gosh, these guys are so serious!! Well anyway some good contents there too, and good content is what is the most important.
By the way, I so like .NET Rocks! shows that I have added a .NET Rocks! tag to my blog to easily link the posts I do sometimes on shows I really liked or want to react on. So check this out here!
So now, after a few months of listening to podcasts, here is my feedback of what I found great in podcasting:
It is definitely a good way to keep informed in an audio format on many aspects of your business or subjects that matter to you: the trends of the markets, technical subjects, business oriented talks, returns on experience etc… It is also a way to hear the voices of big names anyone dedicated to software engineering has probably read articles or books from, and that gives a bigger perspective, other view on the person, and makes you feel as an individual part of a real world made of real people who also can have a laugh while talking about serious, professional matters. Wow, that a long sentence! I guess you get the point: we technical guys indeed tend to read a lot on books or internet, driving us to evolve in a virtual world. And I really fell, the audio, and even more video, gives more life and joy to our business making it more real and lively! You don't feel so lonely anymore and realise that, Hey! There are other freaks out there happening to just love talking for hours about software!!
The other interesting thing about audio/video podcast is that the subjects treated are treated in a very different way than how they would be covered on writen articles. And this is because podcasts are usually interviews and thus are a discussion where a matter is really discussed differently than if one single (or even several) writer would do in a book or magazine: it is more interactive and lively and very open to talks that can easily go beyond the initial subject, thus bringing to the picture yet another perspective, maybe a personal feeling, a real world experience or… just a laugh! You then learn a different way, a more enjoyable way and from a different perspective bringing therefore some added value you would not get another way!
So try by yourself, enjoy the listening, and one or two morning laughs while commuting!
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