Podcasts

I listen to podcasts ALL the time.  I really loathe having to listen to the radio, and I have a 45 minute drive to work.

Now, podcasts come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Wait, let me back up again.  Podcasts are shows produced most often by the creator, and posted on web sites.  They are not reviewed, broadcast over the radio, and the user (listener) has to actually SEARCH them out and either download or stream them to listen.  Therefore, they are more free to use off-color language and discuss a FAR wider variety of topics than you will find on normal radio.

Good, now that we covered that...

They can be 5 minutes long or 4 hours long, or 75 hours long!

What I like about brewing podcasts is that there is a professional network, The Brewing Network, who produces incredibly high quality content.  There are also several excellent podcasts which I listen to- BeerSmith, and Basic Brewing are among the best.

What makes a good podcast for me? It has to have good audio quality.  It should "flow" well, and be entertaining.  For me, it also helps if there is a regular schedule of broadcast, so I know I will have something to listen to.

What makes for a bad podcast?  Poor sound quality.  Bad edits with "dead air". When 50% of the show is burp and fart jokes. BOOOOORING delivery

There are a lot of unlistenable podcasts out there, to be sure. Seriously unlistenable. (And they have "sponsors".  What the hell?  You'd put your company's name on a show of that piss-poor quality? That's about the dumbest thing I can imagine)

Another thing that has made me crazy lately is that I want to listen to a couple of podcasts whose content is only accessible through a Flash player.  I have a pretty awesome Android phone.  Still, I can't listen to these in my normal stream of podcasts because the content is not in a standard audio format.

So why am I pontificating about a subject which I know about as much about as I do brewing?  Because it's time to have a brewing and overall beer podcast coming out of the DaH house.

We've toyed with the idea for about a year, and it's time.  We will be recording a few soon, and posting before NHC.

Here's hoping people enjoy what Bonnie and I have to say about fermentation :)