The First Step To Realizing Just What You're Enjoying...

Hello, everyone. My name is Russ and I... I have something to say.

I... I'm addicted. I'm an addict. To podcasts.

Sure, mock me if you will, it doesn't have the same buzzing power of booze or the latching power of drugs, but it's there nonetheless. With such great podcasts out there, I'm shocked we aren't sending free money to Apple for making this widely available.

It's like they've given us our own licenses to make pirate radio!

Oh, but it's more than radio. You can learn languages, listen to the presidential debates, listen to music, listen to talk radio (sort of), to opinions and spoofs. The world is at your iTunes enabled fingertips and all you have to do is search.

Now, all truth be told this started with Penny Arcade. They have great podcasts. The production quality leaves a little to be desired though. I guess that's one more thing that's so great about all this, is you can learn from other people and utilize the lessons yourself. Constantly leaning in and out of the microphone's sweet spot is going to make people constantly adjust their volume so maybe headsets are a good idea.

You can go as nuts with them as you want too. One of my subscriptions has everything you'd expect in a real radio show, only it's a podcast.

Anyway, it started with Penny Arcade and I remembered someone saying they liked Sarcastic Gamer's podcast (the amazingly radio-like podcast that could only have come from someone who is in radio) and with Kim's wicked huge hard drive, I was inclined to try things out. It turned out swimmingly. Then I searched for music lessons and politics (not together of course). Some are good, some are bad, one's in German, which I have not deleted yet because I want Kim to listen to it. I'm sure she'll enjoy hearing a real German speak her favorite language.

Here's what I have so far. Please keep in mind that I have not yet listened to some of these (or watched them since some are videos) so don't judge. I'll let you know if I think it's cool.

Common Sense with Dan Carlin - I'm not a fan. There's this guy in Atlanta, Neil Bortz I think his name is, who is very entertaining and it seems like Dan Carlin is a watered down version of Neil. I tried to like him but just couldn't.

Dolphinstreet Guitar Lessons and Gear Reviews - Not bad. One of the instructors will slow things WAY down for an easy grasp of what's going on. I got them all to take to the desert with me.

Downloadable Content (Penny Arcade) - I love this podcast. The way they talk makes you feel like they could be your friends and you're just chilling out watching as they brainstorm their comic strip.

Flatpicking Guitar - This is one of my new favorites not only because they have full length songs that Annie really likes to listen to in the car but because it's very professionally done, clean, and very interesting. The artist interviews are always interesting. My theory is that this has more to do with life experience making for good stories, but I could be wrong. The could just have a wealth of artists that happen to be good story tellers too.

Guitar Music Theory Lessons

How To Play Guitar - Beginning Guitar - You can never be too sure you haven't missed steps on anything when you teach yourself. I'm awful at math because of the amount of stuff I've missed bouncing from school to school.

Jazzpath podcast

Learning Guitar Now

Masters of the Delta Blues Guitar

Monster Guitar Podcasts - Actually pretty good stuff. The one that I've listened to so far was short on lesson material, but very motivating.

The Rockabilly Podcast Show - This is the German one. Very interesting to listen to.

Sarcastic Gamer - Great podcast. If yo like video games, this is one that should be checked out.

And that's all. I love it. I wish I could sit around and watch them all day, but work needs to be done and attention needs to be paid to other things. I'm not too bummed because with an iPod, they are never too far away.

If you do have iTunes and have not yet utilized podcasts (or genius for that matter) you should check it out. There's some crap out there, no doubt about it, but it's easy to sift through and the good stuff makes everything worth it.