The Fundamentals of Podcasts: Listening and Subscribing

There has been recent talk of a "Podcast Renaissance," in which podcasts are better than ever and people have begun to appreciate the value of the podcast medium for education and entertainment. Who are we to disagree? There are educational podcasts, political podcasts, legal podcasts, technology podcasts, entertainment podcasts, and podcasts that combine subjects. There are podcasts that review books, recordings from live radio shows, lecture recordings, and informational interviews. With all of these options, how are people finding and listening to the podcasts that are right for them, how have these processes changed, and why are some people not listening to podcasts at all? Are podcast listeners only touching the surface of the potential value?

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the fundamentals of podcast listening and subscribing, ways to enhance your podcast listening experience, and suggestions of their favorite podcasts. Kennedy provides a technical description of podcasts, delivery of media (usually audio) online through an RSS feed, but explains that they also tend to be episodic, you can subscribe to them, and they serve as a radio replacement. His system of podcasting involves researching topics or speakers that spark his interest, filtering and organizing individual podcasts by length, and listening to them at 1.5X the speed while he commutes or works out. He notes that podcasts are becoming more popular because of increased user control and the ability to use them on any device: iPod, tablet, smartphone, laptop, or desktop. Mighell adds that the rise in podcasting is due to increasingly sophisticated apps that allow users to speed up the podcasts, create categories, and control downloads. His alternative system of podcast listening is more streamlined. He subscribes to 20 or 30 regular podcasts and downloads, organizes, and listens to them all on his phone while walking the dog, in the car, or working out. Both hosts use Huffduffer, but Mighell uses it to create a mini feed for things that aren't syndicated while Kennedy uses it as a search engine for podcast topics or speakers that interest him.

While it is helpful to suggest different ways of consuming podcasts, listeners might also be interested in podcast suggestions. In the second part of the show, the hosts share their favorite podcasts. Tom Mighell mostly listens to podcasts that help him keep up with trends in technology, news, and politics, although he also enjoys Serial from the creators of This American Live. Dennis Kennedy's collection of podcasts range from news, sports, and business, to entertainment anyone could enjoy.

As always, stay tuned for Parting Shots, that one tip, website, or observation that you can use the second the podcast ends.

Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow.

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