1. Introduction

So, Podcasts are a new and pretty cool thing. Or so I like to believe. There are a quite literal metric fuckton of the little bastards on the internet, and so I started this blog. I’d like to pick out some of the gems from my library, and condemn some of the worse wastes of time and hard drive space to the deepest corner of internet hell. Which I’m pretty sure is 4Chan. I’ll review them in my own style, advising and simply bringing to attention talent that may otherwise scoot past unnoticed.

So, what is a Podcast? Think of them as free internet radio shows, broadcast and recorded and put up later for download. Many of them are talk shows, but there are a great many audiobook podcasts, or Podiobooks. These are my particular favourites. As a fairly broke student, a free world to delve into is perfect. Most authors release a complete book bit by bit, hour by hour over several weeks or months. There are some well known authors on the circuit. Some like Scott Sigler, Phil Rossi or the wonderfully named Christof Laputka have something of a fanatical fan base. I’m not saying they’re cult leaders, but they’re a chicken sacrifice and a secret handshake away if you get my meaning.

There are two main camps in the Podiobook horde, authors who go to great lengths to produce audio dramas, or those who are simply reading aloud. Audio dramas can be as little as a sound effect here and there or a couple of voice actors, or the aforementioned Christof Laputka method of spectacular audio, drama and effects. On the other hand, Scott Sigler determinedly uses his own voice, and affects an accent to distinguish characters. Both have their methods, and I enjoy both.

For those who have never heard of a podcast, the main methods of downloading them can be from a couple of different websites, for example podcast.com or podiobooks.com. However, I use iTunes, mostly as I can subscribe easily, and have them automatically downloaded, sorted and uploaded to my iPod with minimum effort. The general code of conduct is to rate or add a comment to the Podcast as a polite gesture, as it helps others find them. It takes all of two minutes, and is the least you can do for free content.

This concludes the introductory post, I hope to have some actual reviews up soon. Until then, thanks for reading.