Re:Here is the Value of Podcasts and Podcasting! (Score 1)

For thousands of years, before the invention of the printing press, humans were illiterate, although certainly as intelligent as today. The human brain, or mind, is wired to receive information in a spoken form. When we read, we are actually speaking the words, albeit silently, to ourselves. Podcasting lets the podcaster skip the middle man and talk directly to his listener's brain. I will grant you that most podcasting is poor quality. Either poor in technical quality, poor in content, or poor in presentation, or any combination of those three. If the subject is of interest to us, then we can forgive poor technical quality (up to a point), and if very interesting to us, then we can forgive poor presentaion, so long as the content is good. Podcasts, like blogs, generally accept listener feedback, and can be influenced by constructive criticism and suggestions.

Written articles take time to read, while sitting at the computer, which some people don't do very much, or do not like to do. An alternative is to print out the article, which takes some time and effort. Then you have to find a time and place to read the article. A podcast, however, can be listened to in a variety of situations where reading is impractical, inconvenient, or dangerous, such as while driving.

Although many people prefer to listen to music, some like to learn something when listening to the radio, which is why talk radio has a certain following. However, talk radio at times can become repetitive, shrill, and not very entertaining. This is where podcasts come in. You can select what you want to listen to, at your convenience, like tivo.

As for the crappy quality podcasts - I usually recognize within a minute or two something that is of no interest to me, or of such poor quality that I cannot continue. The solution is the same as on tivo - delete it.