This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz
by Ben Hosking.
Original Post: Why I like Podcasts
Feed Title: A Funny Java Flavoured Look at the World
Feed URL: http://businesslogs.com/WebLog/RSS.xml
Feed Description: The blog looks at using Java and programming in general as it pops up in life as a Java programmer. It will have links to interesting Java articles and resources. It will also have a lot of SCJP Java 1.5 information and links as I am currently studying
The Bileblog was slagging off off podcasting, giving it the amusing title of poocasting, have a read if you fancy it. Off topic slightly I find it quite amusing reading the bile blog as his ranting hits a crescendo, I have an image of Basil Fawlty slowly getting angrier.
The bile Blog is an interesting phenomia to me really, some things are crap and worth slagging off. To have a whole blog on it seems like stretching the idea a bit far. Reading the Bile blog often has the opposite effect on me. Instead of agreeing with the rant I usually find myself taking the opposite view, particularly when I read about podcasts.
The main critiscms of podcasts from the bile blog are
"From what I understand, it's basically audio RSS. Whereas before you could happily subscribe to a feed and read it at your leisure, skip the boring parts, scroll down to the conclusion, or simply copy and paste the useful bits elsewhere, the format does work."
This can be true and you do have to listen to most of the podcast. They are also quite a few rubbish podcasts out there but there are also lots of crap blogs.
The reason why I like podcasts are
1. You can listen to it whilst working and doing something I can put on a podcast at work and do some coding. You can't really do this with RSS feeds or articles because you have to stop to read them.
2. You can listen to podcasts in the car or walking the dog etc I often find myself totally angered to bile blog proportions to radio stations in the morning. Why for the love of God don't the bloody presenters just play some records and stop talking shit. I find it quite interesting listening to a Java podcast whilst driving to work, especially when you are driving the same way to work every day, it's easy to listen to a podcast.
3. Better Explanations some times Some times in a podcast people talking describe something in more detail or in a number of different ways, which can help understand it. It is also interesting if people are discussing something technical because the different points and arguments can help me to understand the point one of them is trying to make.
4. Interviews are better in podcasts It's interesting sometimes having one of the big influential developers (Gosling, Bloch etc) being interviewed but I don't find these interviews very interesting to read because it's boring to read people just talking normally, I don't find reading conversations very interesting. Listening to conversations on the other hand I don't mind to much. I'm not really sure why but they just seem to flow better.
5. Podcasts can be funnier you can put jokes, gags and impressions into podcasts which can give it a lighter feel than a blog. Although you can put a lot of those into a blog I suppose and Visual. I dunno we can call that a draw.
6. You can hear what the famous developers sound like It's good to hear that these famous developers you have read about so much actually sound like geeks, it helps give you a sense of balance in the universe. They might be able to write shit hot code but they are still a geek, which hopefully means I should score with more chicks :-)
I know there are lots of pro's and con's with podcasts and everything else but I thought I would blog about why I like them
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