One of the great things I love about my iPod is the ability to listen to what I want to listen to. Never mind that I have 8,000 songs online at once, it's not about that. It's about knowing that whatever plays is playing because it's something I want to listen to (or wanted to listen to at some point).
Top 40 Radio (does that even still exist?) plays the same crap over and over. I don't think there was ever a time when Top 40 included more than about 5 songs I wanted to listen to. It's a tough call when you are a fan of The Clan of the Xymox, or The Human League, or Camouflage, or Erasure. It's just not going to get the airplay.
Then there were the annoying commentators. I think they're called "disc jockeys" even tho 99% of them don't play "discs" any more. Right after I moved to Portland, I listened to one of the C&W stations a lot. They seemed to have the same values as me. Then the morning show started playing "vote yes on 36" ads, and worse, started commenting on what a good idea it was to save marriage for straight people after the ads played. After that I went 100% iPod.
I quit listening to the radio at all. I get my news from the internet where I can pick and choose my sources. I don't listen to banter among people whom I don't know personally about the things that are going on any more.
Until today. Apple shoved podcasting front and center on the iTunes network. So I gave it a try. What harm can there be in listening to pre-packaged NPR stories or Le Show? right?
Big mistake. I discovered that (a) I am well informed without them and (b) they banter on and on too. it wasn't necessarily the shows themselves that bantered, but the guests were trying to warp them into their own little corner. Conservative this, liberal that. The announcer-guys kept having to bring them back to reality and finally just gave up and signed off.
Podcasting has been compared to blogging. I do see that comparison, but I find it particularly annoying to have to sit and listen to the bookend jingles and other sound effects that take up spare time. Having to wait for someone to say what I could read in half the time also seems like a waste.
So, while I applaud Apple's iTunes for staying way out in front of the other online audio providers, I'm not sure that podcasting is much of a value add, at least for me. You may enjoy it, but I think I'm going to keep curling up with a good book.
