Good Podcasts and Podcatchers?

Chimera512 asks: "I've heard quite a bit about podcasts and software for aggregating podcasts, most of the software I've tried to use have been mediocre at best. where do you find podcasts that are worth listening to? What do you use to aggregate them? Ideally something that allows me to simply copy the stream URL into the program and have it download and/or transfer the file to my MP3 player."

Comments

iTunes?

[GusherJizmac]

iTunes makes it pretty simple, especially if you have an iPod or other MP3 player (yes iTunes will work with other MP3 players, assuming you are just interested in playing mp3s)

Re:iTunes?

[gozar]

Except Apple and iTunes should be shot for having a separate interface to put podcasts into their store that has nothing to do with having them on the web, and isn't compatible with any other podcatcher. At least I haven't yet found a (free) podcast I cared about that was only on iTunes since everyone does the RSS first anyway (and I think iTunes uses the RSS internally). However, I would encourage people not to use iTunes and in particular the ITMS for podcatching for this very reason. Come on, Apple. Open standards, not lock-in. At least for free content. It's not that hard. Apple deserves no credit for their closed-off pseudo-web bullshit.

iTunes uses a website's RSS feed to grab the latest episodes just like every other podcatcher. In fact, you can export your podcast feeds as an opml file to import into any other RSS aggregator. This also works in the reverse, if you start out using Juice receiver and want to move to iTunes, just export your feeds from Juice and import them into iTunes. You can also bypass subscribing from the iTunes music store. Just go to the Advanced menu, select Subscribe to Podcast, and paste in the RSS feed url.

There isn't anything proprietary about the way iTunes works with podcasts... In fact, I would recommend using iTunes for someone starting out. You can always move to something else later.

Hint...

[Otter]

The prefix "pod" gives a clue as to what the ideal software/player combo is...

Browse

[Eightyford]

I use this site to browse podcasts. Lots of good ones are there, for all areas of interest.

Juice Receiver formerly iPodder

[UnderScan]

Apple iTunes & iPods are the dominant software & hardware audio players, but not everone has an iPod or wants to use Apple iTunes. If you do not use Apple iTunes, then you might like to check out Juice Receiver [1]. Juice uses RSS feeds to download podcasts to your computer. Juice is platform-independent, so you can use it from virtually any computer and play the files on any MP3 device. If you need assistance with it, then see the Juice FAQ [2] and the Juice User Guide (PDF) [3].

[1] http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/
[2] http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/faq/index.php
[3] http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/docs/JuiceUse rGuide.pdf

Free Talk Live

[ted_nugent]

Free Talk Live is about the only podcast I listen to. Podcast Alley is a pretty decent directory.

Re:Free Talk Live

[GimmeFuel]

FTL rocks.

They're not the normal "hey, let's go buy a $100 microphone and record ourselves talking shit then put it on a webpage" podcast. (You know who you are) They're a syndicated radio show that's been putting their archives up for download completely free since day one, almost three and a half years ago, when these "podcast" things existed, but there wasn't even a bandwagon to jump on yet.

Since they're primarily a radio show, the audio quality and production values are much higher than most other podcasts out there. You don't have to be an audiophile to recognize that most podcasts out there sound like underwater shit. The hosts also know what they're doing, having worked in "real" radio before.

They take calls and e-mails from podcast listeners, live internet stream listeners and radio listeners alike. In fact, podcast and live stream listeners make up the majority of their calls on weekdays, as the majority of their affiliates carry the Saturday show only.

Re:Don't look any farther

[OneSeventeen]

While iTunes works well for this, some of us still don't own iPods, and don't like installing a huge program like iTunes just for the podcasting feature.

My current favorite is winamp, although if Democracy Player ever became stable, it would be #1 in my book.

The only Podcast I listen to is The Frequency, dedicated primarily to Christian Music News, reviews, and interviews. (without being super cheesy)