Friday, January 1, 2016

2016: Active Listens

Late in 2015, I changed the way I "consume" podcasts. Prior to that day, I was manually downloading podcasts, manually adding them to iTunes, manually adding them to my (increasingly creaky and now much missed) iPod.

After that day, I started using an iPhone and the first "app" I added (other than the "apps" that had been on my Android-based cellphone and had iPhone equivalents) was Overcast. There are many podcast apps out there, but I had heard a lot of good things about Overcast (including from the creator of the app), so gave it a try.

As a result, my listening has grown...possibly out of control. But, I'm spending less time downloading/adding/managing and don't mind it back episodes grow: I can save them, delete them, add them later, etc., as I see fit.

Here's my list of "active listens" plus titles that are "inactive" (but still in my subscription lists in the hopes they come back someday). It'll be interesting to see what remains by the end of the year.

(I do not listen to every episode of every podcast. For example, if I'm in the car and a episode with poor sound quality comes on...I'll skip to the next. I'll try that episode again, later. If it is still unlistenable, I'll delete the episode. Same with subject matter: If I can't connect with the episode, I'll delete and move on. So many podcasts, so little time, you know the rest!)

"Hey, Fred! That's a lot of podcasts." Yep, it is. Three things contribute to this: (a) my commute seems to get longer and longer and local radio sucks; (b) still involved in a couple of projects at work that allow me to listen to podcasts (that will slowly change); (c) family goes to bed earlier than me and we don't have a "media room" so watching TV disturbs the sleepers (more time for podcasts!).

(Updated as of July 10, 2016.)

12 Byzantine Rulers (re-listen)

(The) 1843 Podcast

99% Invisible

Accidental Tech Podcast

Adventures in Space and Tim

Afoot

The Agony Column

Alice Isn't Dead

Analog(ue) (considering unsubscribing) (unsubscribed)

Ancient Rome Refocused (inactive, re-listen)

Ancient Warfare Magazine

A Podcast to the Curious: Dedicated to the Weird Fiction of M.R. James

Ask Me Another

Astronomy Cast

The Audio Guide to Babylon 5

Babbage

Back to Work (considering unsubscribing) (unsubscribed)

Backlisted Podcast

Bat Labels Label-Cast

Bat Segundo (inactive)

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Beware the Hairy Mango

Blurry Photos

Books and Authors

Cabbages and Kings

Campaign Podcast

Charlie Don't Podcast!

Chop Bard

Clarkesworld

Clockwise

Code Switch

The Command Line Podcast (unsubscribed)

Common Sense (with Dan Carlin)

Connected (unsubscribed at end of January)

The Coode Street Podcast (a.k.a., Notes from Coode Street)

The Cornell Collective

Cortex (unsubscribed at end of January)

Covert Contact (The Blogs of War Podcast)

Critical Success

Cthulhu

(The) Cultures (unsubscribed after a dozen or so episodes)

The D6 Generation

Dan Snow's History Hit

Data Skeptic

The Dead Authors Podcast

The Dice Decide

Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro

Doctor Who: Verity!

Doctor Who: The Writer's Room

The Double Shadow

The Dreaming: The Sandman Read-Along Podcast

Eating the Fantastic

Echoes Interviews (PRI)

The Economist Radio

Embedded

Escape Pod

Epic War Stories: True Stories Told by Real Soldiers

Fangirl Happy Hour

The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs

Fire Talk With Me (inactive, retired?)

FiveThirtyEight Elections

Flash Forward

Fran Wilde

Freakonomics Radio

Fresh Air

The Functional Nerds

Galactichat

Galactic Suburbia

The Gaming Grunts

Gastropod

(The) Great Pendragon Campaign

The Grognard RPG File

Guns, Dice, Butter

Hardcore History (with Dan Carlin)

The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast

Hearts of Space

Hello from the Magic Tavern

Hidden Brain

The History of Byzantium

The History Network

The History of Philosophy in India (same site as below, episodes drop in between main feed)

The History of Philosophy (Without Any Gaps)

The History of Podcast

The History of Rome (retired, re-listen)

History on Fire

How We Roll Podcast

Ideas

The Ihnatko Almanac

In Our Time

The Incomparable

The Incomparable Game Show (several separate shows in one feed)

The Incomparable Radio Theater

The Infinite Monkey Cage

Inquiring Minds

Inquisitive (retired)

The Intelligent Life Podcast

Invisibilia

The Jodcast

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

Klikitcast (A Beverly Cleary Podcast)

Lazy Doctor Who

Less Than or Equal

Liftoff

Lightspeed

Longform

The Lovecraft Geek (inactive?)

Material (unsubscribed at end of January)

Meanwhile in the Future (inactive?)

Meeples & Miniatures

The Memory Palace

Midnight in Karachi

More or Less: Behind the Stats

(The) Naked Scientist

Norman Centuries (inactive, re-listen)

Note to Self Podcast

NPC Cast: RPG, Tabletop and Boargames

Numbers Station

On the Media

One Shot Podcast

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

The Pen Addict

Philosophy Bites

Planet Money

Pod4Ham: A Podcast About the Musical "Hamilton"

PodCastle

Politics Podcast (NPR)

Pop Culture Happy Hour

(The) Pope's Prayer Intentions

Pray As You Go

Presidential

Pseudopod

Pynchon in Public

Question of the Day

Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men (Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men)

Radio Free Battlefront (inactive?)

Radiolab

Random Trek

Real Time with Bill Maher

Reality Bomb

(The) Rebound

Reconcilable Differences

Revolutions

Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast

Robot or Not?

Rocket Talk

The Rolistes Podcast

Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine

Science Fiction Book Review Podcast

Science Friday

SF Crossing the Gulf (inactive, hope it is revived!)

SF Signal Podcast (retired)

SFFaudio

The Skiffy and Fanty Show

Sofanauts

Sophomore Lit

Sound Opinions

Spark

Special Relationship (Economist and Mic)

Special Sauce with Ed Levine

SPEKTRMODULE

The Sporkful

Starship Sofa

Star Talk Radio

Studio 360

System Mastery (unsubscribed)

Tales of Mythic Adventure

TeeVee (specifically those episodes dealing with shows I watch)

The Talk Show with John Gruber

Tea & Jeopardy

The Three Hoarsemen (well, d'oh!)

Three Moves Ahead

This American Life

Tolkien Professor

Total Party Kill

TV Talk Machine

Two-Minute Time Lord: A Doctor Who Podcast

Unjustly Maligned

(The) Unmute Podcast

UNspoiled! Sandman

Upgrade

The Virtual Memories Show (and at this link as well)

Waking Up with Sam Harris

War College

Welcome to Night Vale

What's the Point

Witness

Within the Wires

(The) Write Gear

The Writer and the Critic

Writing Excuses

WSJ Speakeasy

WWPD (unsubscribed at end of January, due to change in interests of hosts)

You Are Not So Smart

Your Daily Lex (very inactive)

Still looking for a podcast that covers the history of the Vietnam War, including pre-history of Vietnam to current day. If anybody comes across such a thing...

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