Why Podcasts Suck
I enjoy listening to the radio and I own an mp3 player. I regularly fill up said mp3 player with episodes of Loveline, the Adam Carolla Show, Retrogaming Radio, and occasionally Sean Hannity. It only seems logical that I’d love podcasting. Hundreds of free radio shows being syndicated though RSS, a seemingly endless range of topics to choose from, it sounds almost too perfect.

Alas it is. I’ve tried numerous podcasts and have been sorely disappointed. It turns out all the times I laughed at radio majors in college I was wrong. It turns out that learning how to speak clearly, avoid breathing into the mic, and not saying “um” after every sentence are essential skills to producing a quality radio program. It turns out owning a microphone doesn’t make you interesting. Could I do a better job than the podcasters I’ve heard? Probably not, but that’s also why I don’t try. Sure I think it would be a blast to record a radio show but I don’t because I know the quality wouldn’t meet my (low) standards.

However, I can forgive poor production quality if the content is solid. I have no doubt the budget for “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous” was 100 times that of “Clerks” but you’d still to threaten me with extreme torture to make me watch it (more severe torture than watching the film itself of course). The real issue I’ve found with podcasts is that they’re totally devoid of substance. They spend more time talking about the podcast than the topic the show professes to be about. They all go something like this:

Hey welcome to Don’s World of Drywall, the podcast where we talk about nothing but drywall. How to cut drywall, how to hang drywall, how to repair drywall, nothing but drywall talk.

First off I’d like to mention that I’m trying a new software program to create the show this week. It’s called MegaPodStudio 2.0, I think it’s fairly new. I’m not entirely sure how it works but the web site said it had a lot of cool features. It uses .NET which I think is a good thing. If I can’t figure it all out I’ll switch back to UltraCaster or maybe try Podaucity.

Alright now back to drywall talk on Don’s World of Drywall, the only podcast where we talk about nothing but drywall. Where to find good prices on drywall, how to tell if you need water-resistant drywall, nothing but drywall talk. Before we go on I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who voted for this show over on Podcast Universe. We’re the number three home improvement podcast behind the Zeke with the Lumber Boys and Foundation Repair Weekly. I’m pretty happy with our ranking but it’d be great if a few more of you would vote for this show on Podcast Universe. It’s really easy to vote. Just go over to Podcast Universe and click on “shows” then “reference” then “home repair”. From there you can vote for this show.

So in two weeks I’ll be hosting a live broadcast of Don’s World of Drywall, the only podcast where we talk about nothing but drywall. At the live event I’ll take questions about drywall like how to hang drywall on metal studs maybe even setting joint compounds. I posted information over on MeetUp and LiveJournal. It would be really great if you could make it out there.

OK so now on to drywall talk. After all this is Don’s World of Drywall, the podcast where we talk about nothing but drywall. How to do a double-layer drywall installation, which drywall adhesives work best, nothing but drywall talk. Before I forget, I have a new Skype voice mailbox for this show. So if you have any drywall related questions you can now leave me a voicemail. The number is 1-866-DRY-WALL [author’s note: I have no idea if this is a real number and if so what it connects to, call at your own risk].

Alright, we’re running low on time here at Don’s World of Drywall, the podcast where we talk about nothing but drywall. How to hang drywall on a ceiling, how to install a concrete backerboard, nothing but drywall talk. Since we’re low on time let’s jump to the listener emails. Only one this week. It’s from Saul in Pocatello Idaho who asks "The bitrate that you record your drywall show at isn’t compatible with my mp3 player. How do I change it?" OK thanks for the email there Saul. I did a Google search and found a program called BitrateWizardPro that looks like it’ll do the trick. Why not give that a try.

Well that’s it for this week’s edition of Don’s World of Drywall. Check back next week where we talk about nothing but drywall. Thanks for listening.

All this without even mentioning how stupid the term “podcast” is. It’s just a buzzy way of saying “an mp3 of some uninteresting people talking”. I’m sure Apple is thrilled that the “pod” part stuck so well. Why? As someone who worked retail for several years in college, I can picture this conversation occurring regularly at Circuit City:

Customer: Yeah hey there, can this mp3 player play podcasts?

Employee: I don’t think so, it only plays mp3s.

Customer: Aren’t podcasts just mp3s?

Employee: No, that’s why they’re called something different.

Customer: OK, thanks for clearing that up. I guess I’ll buy this $300 iPod instead of the $100 mp3 player.

Employee: Are you going to want the extended service agreement for that iPod. It’s only $80 and covers....

Yeah, I don’t care for Circuit City either but I’ll save that for later.


Support
Everything on this site is free. I'll never use pop-ups or randomly generated ads to support it. If you've found something here to be especially helpful or entertaining please consider making a small donation. This can be done through a secure PayPal transaction or by purchasing one of the related items below through Amazon.com. Thanks for visiting my little web page! 
Make a secure donation for any amount via PayPal.







Legal Notes


Unless otherwise noted, all content is copyright (c) 2006 Hugues Johnson and may not be redistributed in any form without express permission.

index
feedback