Podcasts and Culture, Or Why I Find Myself Drawn to Internet-based Programming

It's been nearly a decade since the advent of the first iPods and culture has never truly been the same since. Apple Computers was quickly revitalized by the success of this mp3 player that notably stored more than the average CD and had less bulk than say a Walkman CD player. And naturally, it changed the culture of radio broadcasting. Podcasts went from small endeavors to shows that got picked up by public radio stations and all kinds of hooplah came out of that. People wondered if the iPod destroyed radio for good, which yeah, it probably did.

However, it created a sort of new age of wanting to hear about other people's opinions, views, or ideas in such a personal way. I mean, even blogs don't entirely have the personal nature of conversation, as much as I love to think that I've personally endeared myself to the populace who reads these entries. Plus, you can fall asleep listening to podcasts. If you fall asleep reading a blog or a book, you're probably way too tired to have any focus whatsoever.

So it was very easy to see how I could fall into addiction with podcasts, and I have around 40 currently on my lovely computer. 40 podcasts are actually probably way too many to have saved on my computer. It's not like the ones that I have (and that I shall showcase to you shortly) are short deals. For every five minute alert of the week's events in whatever, there are podcasts -- and in turn, conversations -- that go on for hours. And yet I find a way to listen to every single one of them on a weekly basis. So now that I revealed myself to be the exact stereotype of every blogger on earth, let me reveal favorites and reasons why.

ESPN Around The Horn Podcast: This one is completely easy to justify. I love talking about sports. I love mindless arguments about whether or not the New York Yankees are going to suck next season. I love Woody Paige managing one moment of amazing silliness an episode. Thus, this is completely perfect for me.

Scene Unseen: This is probably the most conversational of all of the lovely podcasts I enjoy. It's a simple premise: one guy sees a movie, the other doesn't. Then, they simply talk out what they enjoy about the movie. I have followed this one long enough, though, to see a nice evolution in their sound. They often veer away from the topic of the film, which when they are reviewing such films as Madagascar 2 and Eagle Eye, it's a welcome change.

SModCast: It's Kevin Smith. It's Scott Mosier. It's funny. The end.

Sound Opinions: A podcast is doing something right whenever I can be completely agreeing with its hosts' opinions one week, and then completely disagree with them the next. Sound Opinions has that fun little thing of making me consider my own opinions versus its two hosts, and even though I don't always agree, when I do dislike their views, it's a pretty healthy dislike. It's not vitriolic or the type of hatred I elicit for say, Blender Magazine.

Broken Pixels: While a lot of 1UP's long material tends to bore me, as I remember that I am so impoverished by still playing my year old Playstation 2 and my two-year-old sports games, I love this particular podcast because it's really easy to mock bad video games. Actually, I had never heard of 90% of these games before they were on Broken Pixels, but watching them get torn to shreds by three men who probably are drinking as this mockery occurs is a complete joy to watch. Oh, and don't do it yourself. They are grown-up magazine writers.