Podcasts

Podcasting was something that I was introduced to when I was a freshman in high school. I remember seeing the little tab for podcasts on the sidebar of iTunes so I took a look at and lo and behold I found some free downloads from my favorite television show (at the time), Pardon the Interruption or PTI. I downloaded 4 or 5 shows onto my iPod and listened to them as I went skiing. I found some memorable quotes and such, but I found that they got old pretty quickly. I was able to listen to them once or twice (more if they talked about something really interesting) then that's all I could take of it. Thank God they were free downloads. It allowed me to catch up on whatever I missed that week while I was doing my homework instead of watching TV. I've stopped downloading the PTI podcast so much now because I see it almost everyday now when I don't have close, but every day before the end of the show Mike Wilbon (or whoever is filling in for him) says "Don't forget to check out the PTI podcast on iTunes." Podcasting has become very prevalent with shows like PTI where visual aids are not a major part of the show and you can get all the information you need from the audio debate on the podcast.

The next time that I came in touch with podcasting was when I heard one of my friends was applying to Duke University, he said that they actually give all students iPods where they can download their professor's lectures off of iTunes because nearly all classes were podcasted. I never really checked into the truth of that, but I would very much imagine it's true. Recording seminars in a podcast is an excellent way for students to learn because it allows them to listen to the lecture multiple times if they need to.