Thing 17: Podcasts

Podcasts have been one of my favorite things in Web 2.0 since I discovered them about two years ago. My favorite place to find them is iTunesU. So I decided to spend more time of the other suggested sites for this 'thing.'

I did not care much for Yahoo Podcasts since the only way to find podcasts is to use audio search which also includes music which means you have to type in the word “podcast” each time. I like browsing lists, but I did find a series entitled "Coffee Break Spanish" that I thought was very useful. It is recorded in Scotland so the Scottish accent you hear when they are speaking English made it more fun for me, but might be disconcerting to others. If you click on the menu choice 'other language' you will find other languages in addition to Spanish including “One-Minute Danish.” Go to website and check out the Lesson Library: http://www.radiolinguamedia.com/cbs/www/index.html

At the Educational Podcast Directory I found that a quite a few of the podcasters had not posted for up to four years. So it is possible to waste time on this site looking for current information. I love the concept of podcasts tailored to different public school student levels. You would not have to worry about INTERNET safety using this website for those under 18 years.

Podcastalley was not a site I plan to use in the future. No directory immediately evident. Search features of selecting the 'genre' and then typing in keywords in the next box would not work for me. When I picked a 'genre' and went to that section the podcast list was numbered, but there was no apparent reasoning for the numbering. Was #1 the most downloaded? Or was it the most recent posting? Also, most of the podcasts I did find had to be downloaded. There was no feature that allowed you to listen to them online. I downloaded one file.

Podcast.Com. On the home page was the Coffee Break Spanish that I first found on Yahoo. I like this site best because I can either download the episode or play it online. Also, I found “Episode Info” button very helpful for an overview of episode-content. I listened to an episode on “ Don't Ruin the Vacation” from “This Week in Photography.” The link is readily available in its own box for easy cut and paste. Catch this episode: http://podcast.com/episode/36267670/55150/

There are so many podcasts available on the Web. I usually find podcasts on the topics I am researching and so do not see myself starting podcasting at this point in time. I'd like to have something uniques to contribute.