Now that I’ve established some routines around my exercise habits, I’m finding that I’m listening to a lot more podcasts. And there is some epic free content out there these days (more on that later).

A short rant about Pocket Casts awesomeness..

What I really wanted to talk about today was how much I’m enjoying Pocket Casts as a player for Android (though I used it on Windows Phone originally, and it ships for iPhone too).

Of course it has:

  1. Great navigation (with multiple options - by date / by show /etc); and
  2. The ability to play back at variable speed (which I love so much - everything is better at 1.5x); and
  3. A sensible draggable way to manage your “up next” queue of episodes for long runs; and
  4. Easily see what’s “in progress” so you can finish things up or swipe them out of there; and
  5. Lots of slick UI goodness with swipe left to mark done, cool progress circles for time left, etc

But the thing I really love about it is the syncing! If you pay them just a few $ more for Web access, you can manage all your subscriptions via a browser on your PC.

Better still, because everything is synced, you can easily pick up the episode your were playing on your phone, and listen to a bit more on your PC, and everything remembers where you’re up to!

Pocket Casts on the Web is Capital A Awesome

So, whatcha listening to these days?

I’m always a bit interested in what people are listening to in the Podcast department, so here are a few of my faves, in case you need some more commute/exercise background listening action…

  • The devRant Podcast - just starting out, but cool guests so far!
  • Adventures in Angular - I’m all in on Angular, and I really like this show (even just to stay current).
  • The Groovy Podcast - back in the day I was one of the hosts, so I like to stay connected. BTW - it’s WAY improved from when I was on it!
  • Hanelminutes - guests are always a little left of centre and always 30 minutes.
  • .NET Rocks! - even though I don’t do much in the MS space, these guys are prolific and always have diverse guests on who aren’t MS focussed.

Life Stuff

  • Revisionist History - Malcolm Gladwell’s amazingly challenging podcast on all things under-researched. Worth it for the production value alone!
  • The Tim Ferriss Show - Interviews super interesting folk and pulls apart some of their world view and life philosophy. Long, but interesting.
  • The Art of Manliness - Don’t be put off by the title, this is actually a really progressive, practical and intellectual show. The host is an ex-layer and always polished.

Business and Entrepreneur Stuff

Spirituality

  • The RobCast - there is only one Rob Bell, and he’s jam packed full of awesome. I would love to communicate and connect like this guy.
  • The Liturgists - love these guys - arty, sciency, inclusive, non-judgemental Jesus stuff. Without the hating.
  • Woodland Hills Church - The best of the more trad Sunday sermon thing. If there were Greg Boyd T-shirts on sale, I would buy one!

Anyways…

There’s a bunch of things to get you started. And do check out Pocket Casts if you’re in the market for a good player!