On my last trip to California, I brought along plenty of books-on-tape to help relieve the boredom of driving all those miles. After all, its a 16 hour trip, and, its one I have done many times before. I found over the years that listening to a really good story, like a spy novel or murder mystery, really helps the time and miles go quicker.
On the way down, I spent two days in Mt. Ranier National Park and three days along the Oregon Coast, specifically to work with my new digital SLR camera. And I got to thinking that it would really be great if I could listen to tapes or radio shows that discussed digital photography or other related subjects while driving in the car, but figured I probably would not find anything like that.
Then, I remembered podcasts. As I mentioned some months ago, podcasting is very popular these days and there is even a radio station in San Francisco that plays only podcasts. I wondered if there might be podcasts available on the subject of digital photography.
Now, if you don't remember what a podcast is, it is nothing more than an audio version of blogging. A blog, such as the one you are reading now, is one person's thoughts on a particular subject. In my case, the subject is "technology for the rest of us." But many, many people from around the world are doing podcasts about their favorite subjects. Network radio and television programs like Rush Limbaugh, ESPN, ABC News, and many, many others have also jumped big time into podcasting .
However, many podcasts are recorded by amatuers who use their computers to make the recordings, then post them on the web for listening and downloading. Some of the podcast recording software is quite good, so most podcasts that I've listened to sound fairly professional, at least as far as the recording goes. Content quality can vary widely, depending on the subject, as I can testify to, having listened to that aforementioned SF radio station. Quite frankly, some folks shouldn't be allowed near a microphone. But that's another story.
Podcast are done in an MP3 format, and are easy to download and play in portable MP3 players like Apple's iPod. I don't have an iPod, but I do have an MP3 player that plays CD's that I record with MP3 programs. As MP3's are quite compressed, I can record 4-5 hours worth of listening on one CD.
After I returned home, I began research podcasts about digital photography. Lo and behold, I discovered that Yahoo had put together a special podcast search engine. All I did was enter the search term of "digital photography," and I had my list of podcasts.
The first one I found is called, oddly enough, "Tips from the Top Floor," and is recorded in Germany by a professional photographer who apparantly lives on the top floor of his apartment house. I have now listened to several of them and found them entertaining and informative. Even if you are are novice in photography or just use a point-and-shoot camera, you will enjoy these podcasts. I also found other good podcasts that I listen to, but I will save those for another day.
There are two ways to record podcasts to your computer. One is to go to the podcast's website and download them just like you would download any other software product. The other way is to get a special software product, like Apple's iTunes and subscribe to the podcast. Many podcasters now put links on their website so you can subscribe automatically, via iTunes, to the podcast. It links their podcast directly to iTunes so that the software will automatically download a new podcast whenever they become available.
I did try another software product for the fun of it, but found that it could not compare to the ease of iTunes. This program is free from Apple and comes in both Windows and Apple versions. You can download it from the Apple Web Site and start using it immediately. By the way, if you ever buy an Apple iPod, you will need iTunes to connect to it.
So, if you are interested, go try the world of podcasts. Search out your favorite subject on Yahoo's Podcast Search Engine, then listen to a few a them. If you like them, download iTunes and subscribe to them. I've sure found many of them better than most of the content I hear on the radio.
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