5 ms·

Maybe I'm odd, but I don't really do podcasts at all. Which is quite frustrating, as there are various technical blogs I've followed over the years, and when s

Maybe I'm odd, but I don't really do podcasts at all. Which is quite frustrating, as there are various technical blogs I've followed over the years, and when some of them transition to a podcast, or a video equivalent, I just stop following. There's probably some useful/interesting information in there, I'm just not interested in suffering through the 40-50% waffle, or worse - meaningless video of a talking head.

danwee 4y ago
Same here. Usually in a podcast session of 1h, there is probably around 15 minutes of good content. The rest is just bluff, and with audio is difficult to skip the bluff.
VLM 4y ago
That is the exact target the commute time "morning radio show" used to have, but the radio became too lame to listen to, so now there's podcasts capturing the same market. Back when I had a commute, I found it a million times more relaxing to listen to anything OTHER than the technical stuff I was doing at work during my commute. Technical podcasts seemed to fit in pretty well at the gym or doing menial labor (yard work, etc) Audiobooks about contemporary issues that should have been a podcast don't work well; same with podcasts about issues that should have been a permanent audiobook.
footlose_3815 4y ago
[dead]
jcbrand 4y ago
IMO the way to do it is to make certain tasks a bit more enjoyable. I mainly listen to podcasts when cleaning, washing the dishes, doing the laundry or driving long distances. Compared to the vapid nonsense coming from radio DJs, many podcasters are verifiable geniuses.
- ghaff 4y ago
  For me, it's mostly driving which, since I haven't commuted in years, means I don't listen a lot. Doing stuff around the house? I would mostly only be half-listening and I don't really care for having background noise on in general when I'm at home. I also mostly don't listen to podcasts for technical content. I get plenty of that during the day.
jkukul 4y ago
For technical content, it looks like the burden of processing information was outsourced from people making content to people consuming content. Is it really scalable? Podcasting is one-to-many communication, so wouldn't it be more efficient if the 1 person who has something to say invested some time up-front to pre-process information to be more consumable for N people? With all that said, I still listen to non-technical podcasts when I just want to get my mind occupied with random ramblings.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Podcasts work fine for a certain level of conceptual technical content. But the lack of visuals and the fact that the listener is probably doing something else at the same time limits how in-depth you can go. I've done interview format podcasts but, to be honest, I mostly don't listen to podcasts on technical topics myself.
- cxr 4y ago
  > Podcasting is one-to-many communication, so wouldn't it be more efficient if the 1 person who has something to say invested some time up-front to pre-process information to be more consumable for N people? Alternatively, a podcast where a fraction of its N listeners could do one thing each to contribute to how the thing is consumed for others scales even better (given a high enough threshold value for N). We've seen how beneficial rules of thumb like Wadsworth's constant can be, or how valuable it is to come across a comment that gives a timestamped table of contents/index for YouTube videos when the creator hasn't provided one themselves. A successful business built on taking that kind of intent and applying the wiki approach to it is probably inevitable.
cainxinth 4y ago
The rationale for podcasts isn’t that they have content that can’t be found elsewhere (though there is some of that). It’s that it’s content optimized for people on the go.
emptyfile 4y ago
Yeah I agree absolutely. I find the rise of video and podcasts quite tragic actually. Destroying our collective attention spans year on year. I understand the idea, listening to something while driving, walking, etc. It just doesn't work for me at all. I zone out during boring bits, zone out during interesting bits following my thoughts, and generally lose interest if the narrator/dialogue is too slow (they usually are).
- pictureofabear 4y ago
  Agreed It's crazy how quickly society has shifted. We used to chide people who had their nose buried in a book as socially awkward. Now, everyone has their nose buried in a phone. You used to have social interactions when waiting anywhere. That doesn't really happen anymore. Seems like everyone would rather be distracted by something on their phone. The ability to be bored has become a rare and valuable skill.
  - retcore 4y ago
    >You used to have social interactions when waiting anywhere London perfected ignoring everybody long before even the rise of mass circulation newspapers according to diaries of family who knew the place a hundred years ago. The Tube of the eighties celebrated the apotheosis of ignoring one another and the British seem to make a art form out of studious but "polite" asociability* in every queue. Actually reading this discussion I've realized that I have seen almost nobody using headphones in London in recent years, eliminating possibly the highest barrier to interaction. Curiouser I have most recently only noticed people glued to their phones whilst walking not standing at the bus stop. *as opposed to anti social manners for clarity
    - pictureofabear 4y ago
      Yes, people in large metropolises have been indifferent to each other for ages. Everywhere else in the US, it used to be the case that you would make small talk with people while waiting at the doctor's office, in barbershops, in the line at the grocery store, wherever.
Spooky23 4y ago
That’s ok. My dad was a radio hobbyist and I was hooked on radio as a kid in the 80s and 90s. Something about spoken voice broadcast just appeals to me. My sister, who is also a nerd and exposed to the same stuff was really more into the visual arts and music side of things. To her, radio was boring unless it was music. For terrestrial radio, the peak marked the decline… with demographics shrinking the audience and content zeroing on angry white guy or NPR. Commercial radio sponsorships are about prostrate pills and gold coins. To me, podcasts are liberating because they are cheap to produce, so you don’t have the fixed costs of broadcast and need for mass market. Plus… more people can speak intelligently than can write or produce good video content. It’s a moderate information medium where I can multitask and enjoy. It’s not a medium for everyone, to the chagrin of the VC and others investing in it.
jonpurdy 4y ago
Personal recommendations of good podcasts that are 95-100% content (<5% ads, waffling, etc): - Accidental Tech Podcast: Apple-related stuff. https://atp.fm https://atp.fm - The Sajin: photography in Korea. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1324087 https://www.buzzsprout.com/1324087 - Skeptics Guide to the Universe: scientific skepticism and related topics. https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcasts https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcasts Podcasts that I would listen to more if they weren't filled with ads and "waffle": - Tim Ferris show: like a more intellectual Joe Rogan. https://tim.blog/podcast/ https://tim.blog/podcast/ - Huberman Lab: (he gets a pass since the advertising is all front-loaded, and no "waffle") https://hubermanlab.com/welcome-to-the-huberman-lab-podcast/ https://hubermanlab.com/welcome-to-the-huberman-lab-podcast/
- pigeons 4y ago
  What does waffling mean in this context?
  - jonpurdy 4y ago
    I got the impression that the OP used it to mean talking about the same thing over and over and just filling the time with empty content, so I used it in the same fashion.
  - astura 4y ago
    https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/waffle https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/waffle Specifically, this definition >to talk foolishly or without purpose; idle away time talking It says it's a British usage, but I hear it in the US too
t0bia_s 4y ago
I have also problem to listen podcasts. Text is much more efficient way to "broadcast" informations. Both for author and audience. If I want to listen something, I allways prefer a good music.

danwee 4y ago

Same here. Usually in a podcast session of 1h, there is probably around 15 minutes of good content. The rest is just bluff, and with audio is difficult to skip the bluff.

VLM 4y ago

That is the exact target the commute time "morning radio show" used to have, but the radio became too lame to listen to, so now there's podcasts capturing the same market. Back when I had a commute, I found it a million times more relaxing to listen to anything OTHER than the technical stuff I was doing at work during my commute. Technical podcasts seemed to fit in pretty well at the gym or doing menial labor (yard work, etc) Audiobooks about contemporary issues that should have been a podcast don't work well; same with podcasts about issues that should have been a permanent audiobook.

footlose_3815 4y ago

[dead]

jcbrand 4y ago

IMO the way to do it is to make certain tasks a bit more enjoyable. I mainly listen to podcasts when cleaning, washing the dishes, doing the laundry or driving long distances. Compared to the vapid nonsense coming from radio DJs, many podcasters are verifiable geniuses.

ghaff 4y ago
For me, it's mostly driving which, since I haven't commuted in years, means I don't listen a lot. Doing stuff around the house? I would mostly only be half-listening and I don't really care for having background noise on in general when I'm at home. I also mostly don't listen to podcasts for technical content. I get plenty of that during the day.

jkukul 4y ago

For technical content, it looks like the burden of processing information was outsourced from people making content to people consuming content. Is it really scalable? Podcasting is one-to-many communication, so wouldn't it be more efficient if the 1 person who has something to say invested some time up-front to pre-process information to be more consumable for N people? With all that said, I still listen to non-technical podcasts when I just want to get my mind occupied with random ramblings.

ghaff 4y ago
Podcasts work fine for a certain level of conceptual technical content. But the lack of visuals and the fact that the listener is probably doing something else at the same time limits how in-depth you can go. I've done interview format podcasts but, to be honest, I mostly don't listen to podcasts on technical topics myself.
cxr 4y ago
> Podcasting is one-to-many communication, so wouldn't it be more efficient if the 1 person who has something to say invested some time up-front to pre-process information to be more consumable for N people? Alternatively, a podcast where a fraction of its N listeners could do one thing each to contribute to how the thing is consumed for others scales even better (given a high enough threshold value for N). We've seen how beneficial rules of thumb like Wadsworth's constant can be, or how valuable it is to come across a comment that gives a timestamped table of contents/index for YouTube videos when the creator hasn't provided one themselves. A successful business built on taking that kind of intent and applying the wiki approach to it is probably inevitable.

cainxinth 4y ago

The rationale for podcasts isn’t that they have content that can’t be found elsewhere (though there is some of that). It’s that it’s content optimized for people on the go.

emptyfile 4y ago

Yeah I agree absolutely. I find the rise of video and podcasts quite tragic actually. Destroying our collective attention spans year on year. I understand the idea, listening to something while driving, walking, etc. It just doesn't work for me at all. I zone out during boring bits, zone out during interesting bits following my thoughts, and generally lose interest if the narrator/dialogue is too slow (they usually are).

pictureofabear 4y ago
Agreed It's crazy how quickly society has shifted. We used to chide people who had their nose buried in a book as socially awkward. Now, everyone has their nose buried in a phone. You used to have social interactions when waiting anywhere. That doesn't really happen anymore. Seems like everyone would rather be distracted by something on their phone. The ability to be bored has become a rare and valuable skill.
- retcore 4y ago
  >You used to have social interactions when waiting anywhere London perfected ignoring everybody long before even the rise of mass circulation newspapers according to diaries of family who knew the place a hundred years ago. The Tube of the eighties celebrated the apotheosis of ignoring one another and the British seem to make a art form out of studious but "polite" asociability* in every queue. Actually reading this discussion I've realized that I have seen almost nobody using headphones in London in recent years, eliminating possibly the highest barrier to interaction. Curiouser I have most recently only noticed people glued to their phones whilst walking not standing at the bus stop. *as opposed to anti social manners for clarity
  - pictureofabear 4y ago
    Yes, people in large metropolises have been indifferent to each other for ages. Everywhere else in the US, it used to be the case that you would make small talk with people while waiting at the doctor's office, in barbershops, in the line at the grocery store, wherever.

Spooky23 4y ago

That’s ok. My dad was a radio hobbyist and I was hooked on radio as a kid in the 80s and 90s. Something about spoken voice broadcast just appeals to me. My sister, who is also a nerd and exposed to the same stuff was really more into the visual arts and music side of things. To her, radio was boring unless it was music. For terrestrial radio, the peak marked the decline… with demographics shrinking the audience and content zeroing on angry white guy or NPR. Commercial radio sponsorships are about prostrate pills and gold coins. To me, podcasts are liberating because they are cheap to produce, so you don’t have the fixed costs of broadcast and need for mass market. Plus… more people can speak intelligently than can write or produce good video content. It’s a moderate information medium where I can multitask and enjoy. It’s not a medium for everyone, to the chagrin of the VC and others investing in it.

jonpurdy 4y ago

Personal recommendations of good podcasts that are 95-100% content (<5% ads, waffling, etc): - Accidental Tech Podcast: Apple-related stuff. https://atp.fm https://atp.fm - The Sajin: photography in Korea. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1324087 https://www.buzzsprout.com/1324087 - Skeptics Guide to the Universe: scientific skepticism and related topics. https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcasts https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcasts Podcasts that I would listen to more if they weren't filled with ads and "waffle": - Tim Ferris show: like a more intellectual Joe Rogan. https://tim.blog/podcast/ https://tim.blog/podcast/ - Huberman Lab: (he gets a pass since the advertising is all front-loaded, and no "waffle") https://hubermanlab.com/welcome-to-the-huberman-lab-podcast/ https://hubermanlab.com/welcome-to-the-huberman-lab-podcast/

pigeons 4y ago
What does waffling mean in this context?
- jonpurdy 4y ago
  I got the impression that the OP used it to mean talking about the same thing over and over and just filling the time with empty content, so I used it in the same fashion.
- astura 4y ago
  https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/waffle https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/waffle Specifically, this definition >to talk foolishly or without purpose; idle away time talking It says it's a British usage, but I hear it in the US too

t0bia_s 4y ago

I have also problem to listen podcasts. Text is much more efficient way to "broadcast" informations. Both for author and audience. If I want to listen something, I allways prefer a good music.