podcasts. I dont like em.

[Traab]

So ive tried a few times, im a big fan of cracked.com and one of the things a number of them do is in addition to various skits and articles, they sometimes do live podcasts and man do I hate them. They took the crew from after hours, my favorite continuing sketch, and yet I just cant enjoy it. Its so unpolished and adlibbed and full of umms and such. I guess im just a snob. I like to hear perfect renditions, not live ones, which is part of why I hate concerts too. Gimmie a cd instead. The other part being, my hearing is wonky. I can HEAR, but comprehension takes more focus, and things like strong accents, or, I dunno, terrible microphones, make it hard to follow along with whats being said. I had to watch scarface with captions just to understand wtf was being said. So perfectly setup sound and edited stuff is just easier for me to listen to which probably helps me enjoy it more.

[90,000]

Fair enough.

They seem like perfectly reasonable grievances.

Continue to enjoy what you enjoy.

[veti]

I like podcasts. Mind, mine are downloaded from the BBC, they're professionally produced radio programs, so very different from what you're talking about here.

In general, I hate with a violent passion the trend for more and more "multimedia" content on the web. Words and pictures, that's the ticket. Music? No thanks. Speech? Look, the chance that, at the moment I clicked on your page, I'm able to give you my undivided attention to follow what you're saying at your own pace are somewhere between zip and bupkis. If you want me to try to understand it, then just write it down already. Doesn't take long.

And don't even get me started on auto-playing videos.

[Knaight]

I tend to favor text for almost everything. With that said, I have seen some good podcasts from time to time - all of which are well edited, produced on decent quality recording equipment, and otherwise made to avoid exactly the phenomena talked about in this thread. Some are even read from scripts, although that doesn't work with discussion podcasts.

[Traab]

I tend to favor text for almost everything. With that said, I have seen some good podcasts from time to time - all of which are well edited, produced on decent quality recording equipment, and otherwise made to avoid exactly the phenomena talked about in this thread. Some are even read from scripts, although that doesn't work with discussion podcasts.

See that wouldnt be so bad, maybe its just the luck of the draw, I keep finding "live" podcasts, often done in front of an audience at that. And its just a bit baffling to me, because these guys are writers, and actors, and they arent going into the discussion blind, so you would think they would come off a bit better, but it honestly keeps breaking off into awkward moments where noone knows what to say or a joke falls flat or whatever.

[Corlindale]

There are so many different kinds of podcast. Some are extremely well-edited and very polished, others are more meandering. Bad sound quality is definitely something I encounter relatively often as well.

I think the looser and more meandering nature of some podcasts isn't necessarily a product of lacking preparation. Some people - myself included - enjoy these more "conversation-like" podcasts, where it feels more like you are listening in on some friends talking casually, rather than a big radio interview. Of course I also understand that many of these loose, conversation-style podcasts are also highly edited, and might be meandering to an intolerable point if they were not.

One of my favourite podcasts i Hello Internet, which really is just a conversation between two people. They usually have a structure prepared for talking points, but often they trail off in various weird directions - and that's what I like about it! I think they're more fun when they talk about various random everyday life stuff than when they actually have in-depth discussion about the intricacies of Apple products or YouTube policies.

On another end of the spectrum is something like 99% Invisible, which is ultra-short, highly edited episodes covering a very specific topic in detail. You might enjoy these if you do not like overly long, meandering podcast episodes. The audio quality is also great, you can tell the creater is a professional. It's also a radio show, so that might have something to do with it.

[Vogie]

I'm sorry you've run into bad ones. Yeah there are a lot of bad ones out there, but there are also an overwhelming number of well-produced ones. To the point of I listen to Podcasts, at 2.5x+ speed throughout the day (25 hours of content across 10 hours of work + commuting).

That being said, I'm subscribed to 68 podcasts, a combination of active, seasonal, and backlogs. If you would like something specific, I can probably point you in the right direction.

For example:

Smartest Man in the World (comedian Greg Proops) is almost always recorded live at various venues and has wildly disparate recording qualities; On the other hand, You Made It Weird (comedian Pete Holmes) is almost always recorded in a studio, has a staff producer, is one on one, and it's always clear as day.
Gamers with Jobs is a well-produced, edited podcast, with audio transitions; on the other hand, Magic the Gathering - Drive to Work is literally head designer Mark Rosewater recording himself on the Audio recorder app on his iPhone as he physically drives to work... and the only "editing" that is done is if he says something wrong or nonpublic, he re-records the whole podcast on the drive home.
Cthulhu And Friends is an cleanly produced real play podcast with all the trappings - they even play with what you're talking about by releasing Bloopers, adlibs and whatnot as their own separate episodes; on the other hand, It's a Long Story is a real play podcast that sounds exactly like a group of people playing D&D on Skype, complete with silly accents.


Yeah, it helps if you find people with the voices you want - Just like the good qualities of a dentist include nice eyes and small hands. But I would caution saying you loath an entire medium because of a collection of bad experiences.

[Knaight]

See that wouldnt be so bad, maybe its just the luck of the draw, I keep finding "live" podcasts, often done in front of an audience at that. And its just a bit baffling to me, because these guys are writers, and actors, and they arent going into the discussion blind, so you would think they would come off a bit better, but it honestly keeps breaking off into awkward moments where noone knows what to say or a joke falls flat or whatever.

I make a point of avoiding anything done in front of an audience, and being live and not edited is another flaw. For one person, scripted podcasts take a look at History of Rome and Revolutions. For an example of a discussion podcast done well, take a look at Fear The Boot. I'd probably jump in in the middle for all of these for a more representative sample than the first few shows, but all of them show actual editing, good sound quality, etc.

[2D8HP]

I'm totally in the tank on this one.

Anytime I click on something and find it's not text I'm dissapointed.

I don't even like it when a co-worker watches videos on his phone, as the noise bugs me.

I few at this Forum have tried to convince me to points of view by sending me links to videos, that will never be viewed. They can't be to eager to convince me, because when I ask for written articles instead, I get nothing.

I do watch occasional short comic videos, and to listen to music. Everything else I want as text.

My reaction to non-text links is:



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yKCBWRU59zk

[Psyren]

One of my favourite podcasts i Hello Internet, which really is just a conversation between two people. They usually have a structure prepared for talking points, but often they trail off in various weird directions - and that's what I like about it! I think they're more fun when they talk about various random everyday life stuff than when they actually have in-depth discussion about the intricacies of Apple products or YouTube policies.


It helps that CGP Grey is just crazy intelligent, so I don't mind listening to him just ramble. But I also agree with Traab - I prefer specific videos to podcasts because they get right to the point and the information is more digestible.

To use Hello Internet as an example - it covers all kinds of great points, but the lack of structure makes it hard for me to remember exactly which particular episode I heard a useful factoid in. By contrast, if I want to rewatch his video about solving traffic problems (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzzSao6ypE) or why we're all doomed by automation regardless of profession (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU), it's easy to just grab those specific videos without sifting through an hour long conversation hoping to restrike gold. It's also much easier for me to share - no need for deep links or telling people "man, especially listen to the parts at 5:17, 13:22, and 24:05."

[warty goblin]

I like podcasts, or at least podcast. Nothin' better than sitting out on the balcony with some woodwork and a quality Radio War Nerd episode.

[Legato Endless]

I like podcasts, or at least podcast. Nothin' better than sitting out on the balcony with some woodwork and a quality Radio War Nerd episode.

This is my principle complaint to the all text only crowd. I also prefer text to audio when I want something efficiently digested, but life doesn't always let you read.

Long drive with no company? Podcast.
Walk the dog? Sometimes we'll go out and he'll sniff while I think. Other times? Podcast.
Hands occupied but brain free? Podcast.
Crap like laundry? Always Podcast.

The one other thing is while reading a book is lovely, some works benefit immensely from being given a delivery, to echo an opinion shared by CGP Grey when he gives book recommendations.

Beowulf is lovely to read, but far superior to listen to a man orate it to you.

[Closet_Skeleton]

I agree with everything in the OP about bad podcasts, so I listen to ones that aren't like that. I also have no patience for podcasts that have off topic 'entertainment' sections, especially when I'm not a regular listener, picked an interesting sounding episode and there's some badly written running narrative getting in the way of what I came for.

There are plenty of podcasts that started out bad and I now listen to regularly. Podcasts that focus on guests can be very uneven and often turn into trash when they have guest-free episodes.

I think the best way to avoid crappy rambling time wasting podcasts is to only listen to topic centred or interview based ones. Freeform discussion podcasts work fine when they stay on topic.

[Knaight]

This is my principle complaint to the all text only crowd. I also prefer text to audio when I want something efficiently digested, but life doesn't always let you read.

Long drive with no company? Podcast.
Walk the dog? Sometimes we'll go out and he'll sniff while I think. Other times? Podcast.
Hands occupied but brain free? Podcast.
Crap like laundry? Always Podcast.

The one other thing is while reading a book is lovely, some works benefit immensely from being given a delivery, to echo an opinion shared by CGP Grey when he gives book recommendations.

Beowulf is lovely to read, but far superior to listen to a man orate it to you.

The same thing applies to audio - a large part of the reason I favor it is that I despise headphones, and if you're listening to audio loud enough for other people to hear the options are restricted.
Long bus or train ride with no company? Book.
Lines, waiting rooms, etc.? Book.
Donating blood plasma? Book.

Then there's the matter of how I read easily four or five times human speaking speed, so podcasts are just so slow. I still like some of them (though good editing is a must for anything other than one person reading a script they wrote well), but a lot of the time they really aren't practical.

[Traab]

Honestly, when it comes to audio books, I only really enjoy the ones that go really deep in their efforts. My favorite example being the hobbit/lotr done by some british radio group. It had music, sound effects, voice actors for the various roles, etc etc etc. Im talking the book version of the story, not the movies. Im not a fan of bland narration, I love having voice actors and music and such. Its almost like a movie I can see when I close my eyes.

[Knaight]

Honestly, when it comes to audio books, I only really enjoy the ones that go really deep in their efforts. My favorite example being the hobbit/lotr done by some british radio group. It had music, sound effects, voice actors for the various roles, etc etc etc. Im talking the book version of the story, not the movies. Im not a fan of bland narration, I love having voice actors and music and such. Its almost like a movie I can see when I close my eyes.

There are some nice ones - Feed* in particular stood out, although just getting more esoteric pronunciations right counts for a fair bit for me.

*The dystopia about a future society where people have a computer in their brain at all time, not the zombie one.

[Aedilred]

The same thing applies to audio - a large part of the reason I favor it is that I despise headphones, and if you're listening to audio loud enough for other people to hear the options are restricted.
A few years ago I gave up earbud headphones in favour of those big over-ear ones that we all threw out in the early 00s because they were just so uncool now you could have these tiny ones that went in your ear. It's made such a difference - they're much better at blocking noise in both directions even if they're not specifically "noise-cancelling" so you don't have to have the volume up so loud and that saves your eardrums as well as bystanders. And because they fit over your ears instead of inside them they're also more comfortable to wear for longer periods. I don't think I'll ever go back.

I do still prefer just playing it through speakers where possible, for obvious reasons, but that's not always possible. In particular, I'd never listen to anything in public on speaker - I find that so irritating when other people do it I wouldn't inflict it on them.


Then there's the matter of how I read easily four or five times human speaking speed, so podcasts are just so slow. I still like some of them (though good editing is a must for anything other than one person reading a script they wrote well), but a lot of the time they really aren't practical.
This is my problem with almost everything that isn't text. Audiobooks and podcasts are often particular offenders. I don't have a problem with videos per se - a lot of things only work as video, or as an audio broadcast - but a lot of the time it's just stuff that would be perfectly fine as text awkwardly shoved into a video/audio format for the sake of "multimedia!" I get impatient waiting for them to get to the point that, were I reading, I would have done ages earlier. It's also easier to be "conned" by video/audio. With text, if you're not sure where something is going, you can scan to make sure that it's going to get to a point you're interested in to confirm it's going to be worth your time. With multimedia files you can only skip ahead to specific points so it's harder to discern whether it's actually worth finishing - and you can only finish it at the pace dictated by the producer, not your own.

Likewise, I dont think there's anything wrong with something being unscripted - I enjoy panel shows like Have I Got News for You, QI, etc. - but they still need to be fairly tightly controlled and edited to remove bits that don't work. The live element presents a problem there, because even when something is scripted there's often a chance for it to go wrong. It routinely takes a few hours to film a fully scripted half-hour sitcom episode, in my experience, because of flubs and retakes. I've been to more than one (tightly scripted) comedy performance where something's gone a little wrong and it's thrown the whole thing off slightly: that's part of the experience when you're in the live audience, but you wouldn't broadcast that.

As with everything I think it comes down to quality control. Which is something that, in the age of the internet, we are becoming increasingly bad at as a culture.

[Vogie]

I actually just picked up some of those Trekz Titanium bone-conduction headphones... Podcasts come through wonderfully. It's like your friends are talking right behind you at all times, or like your listening to something on a speaker that only you can hear. Although, they don't do well in really loud environments - they even come with a pair of earplugs for that purpose.

I certainly found that some podcasters talk really slow. I combatted that by increasing the playback speed over time. Upside - the words per minute get closer to what I can read at. Downside - I can't weave any music podcasts in there anymore. Music isn't made to be played at 2.5x speed, so bye bye Coverville & Song Exploder.

[Knaight]

A few years ago I gave up earbud headphones in favour of those big over-ear ones that we all threw out in the early 00s because they were just so uncool now you could have these tiny ones that went in your ear. It's made such a difference - they're much better at blocking noise in both directions even if they're not specifically "noise-cancelling" so you don't have to have the volume up so loud and that saves your eardrums as well as bystanders. And because they fit over your ears instead of inside them they're also more comfortable to wear for longer periods. I don't think I'll ever go back.

I'd put both sets in the "despise" category, although earbuds are vastly worse.