PHOTO: The Ipod, a device that has completely changed the way we listen to music now changes the way we listen to the radio
I had never been a fan of podcasts. I had never really understood the point of them.
For the uninitiated, a podcast is a radio show, but instead of being on the radio, it's on the Internet, and you can download it and listen to it whenever you like.
So, it's radio on demand.
People make a radio show, they post it online, and then you can access it whenever you want, instead of whenever they want.
As someone who has never actually paid attention to radio schedules, and, therefore, never really listened to shows except when I'm in my car, the podcast seemed like a dumb idea.
Until last week, when, after not doing so for a couple of years, I went through the podcast offerings on ITunes.
It is impressive, and addictive.
The Agenda, the brilliant TVO show hosted by the brilliant Steve Paikin, is available for download, and, once you subscribe, your ITunes automatically downloads the new ones for you. And you can access the old episodes, too.
Then, the show goes onto the Ipod, and the Ipod plugs into the car radio, and you get to listen to the Agenda on the way to or home from work.
My second favourite podcast so far, and this will make me seem like a sappy 60-year-old woman, is The Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean. To be clear, I don't like the fact that I like this show. I'm too pragmatic and modern to like the sweet, old-fashioned tales McLean spins, yet if it's on the radio when I turn my car on, I'm incapable of turning the show off. And, so, when I saw it listed on ITunes as a podcast, I could not summon the strength to not subscribe.
There are also great history podcasts, with biographies of U.S. Presidents and quickie art history classes.
CBC Radio 3 is offering up in-studio sessions with some great, young bands, mixed in with interviews of band members.
The time of the podcast has arrived, for me, at least, because the technology is ready. If I didn't have an Ipod, I would not listen to podcasts (because I'd be chained to my computer in order to hear them). If I hadn't bought a new car late last year, a car with an easily-accessible "auxiliary in" port specifically added to the stereo for Ipods, I would not listen to podcasts. And, if all they had were newspapers turned into radio news (which are still available; though I can't imagine who, other than deaf people, would listen to them), I would not listen to podcasts.
The trick is the technology. And, of course, the content. Both are now ready. And the podcast has arrived, even though it appears to have a while to go before it reaches greatness.