I've had an iPod for the better part of this century. It's an amazing little device and I love the hell out of it. Which is why I am flabbergasted that I just now discovered the vast universe of podcasts.
I always knew they existed, but I didn't really expect that there was anything I'd be interested in. I remember checking them out about four years ago, when they were still a budding young technological phenomenon, and all that I found were a few esoteric lectures on the state of Latin American politics and other issues about which I could not possibly care less.
But last night, while entrenched in one of my greatest procrastinatory episodes ever, I sat in front of the computer desperately scrambling for another online game or website to keep me from actually doing real work, and I ventured into the podcasts section of the iTunes store.
It was wondrous. There's something on every damn topic imaginable! You can get every daily ESPN show, NPR shows and interviews, famous speeches, deejay mixtapes, and history lectures. There are also weekly trivia podcasts. Of course, 75% of the categories I encountered consisted of such titles as "Master Slovenian in just one podcast!" but there are plenty of gems in there for anyone's downloading pleasure. A few of the... ehem, 19 that I downloaded:
- Plato: The Republic
- History of Rome
- Stones Throw Records: J-Rocc remixes
- Byzantine Rulers
- Some conversation w/ Justice Ginsburg (this should be good for my recent bouts of insomnia)
- NPR Science Friday: How Old Is the Grand Canyon?
- The "What-ifs" of 1066 (yes, the year 1066)
Looking back over this list, it actually doesn't seem as exciting as I celebrated at the beginning of this post. But fuck it, they're all free, so...