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The trouble with most podcasts.

ThaedThaed
edited July 2006 in Everything Else
Rym’s new foray into podcast listening and his immediate dismay speaks volumes about the state of podcasting today. It’s funny that Rym has so little experience with listening to these shows being ½ half of the mastermind team behind GN. I think we all agree that GN is one of the best shows on the internet today. The qualities that make it great show up as obvious holes in other shows that don’t have it together. I’ve told Rym and Scott that I wouldn’t mind starting a podcast to rate shows (Voxmonitor does this) but also to offer constructive criticism.

Many shows miss the basics: sound quality, editing (long pauses, coughing and other body noises) and lack of energy. Some shows are fundamentally flawed, that is, the hosts want to be funny, but aren’t. Some pocasters don’t do their homework on topics and come across as ignorant. Others fill their shows with boring minutia.

In short, there is a lot of crap out there. But there is also a ton of good stuff, so much so that I can’t even listen to it all in any given week. If I had time, I’d love to help separate the good from the bad. Maybe in January…

Comments

  • AprecheApreche
    There is definitely a tremendous need for a quality podcast review place. Many people have tried, or are trying, to review podcasts properly. None of them have really managed to fill the void. At best, people have managed to do decent reviews in low quantity. At worst, people have simply done poor reviews on a podcast that is itself poor. If someone were to come out with a good show that reliably reviewed even a few podcasts every week, that would definitely take off. I think a show like that would work best with a council of four or 5 people. You need at least one person to review the technical aspects of their audio quality and such. The rest of the people are needed to cover a wide range of different tastes.
  • blast flameblast flame
    I find many podcasts enjoyable and do not see the problem with them. I am currently subscribed to 42 podcasts.
  • La Petit MortLa Petit Mort
    edited July 2006
    Baka, don't disagree with us in this topic because it's true: there are a lot of podcasts that are ass.
    Post edited by MrPeriod on
  • blast flameblast flame
    Baka don't disagreed with us in this topic because it's true, there are a lot of podcast that are ass.
    Their may be many bad ones but their are also plenty of good ones. If you know what to look for you will nearly never get bad ones. The problem with podcasts as far as I am concerned is that while they are supposed to be a podcasts about everything, I can not find a podcast about many of my interests.
  • ColinColin
    "If you know what to look for you will nearly never get bad ones." Please explain this comment ciel mort. How does one know "what to look for" without listening to it in the first place? That is the only way I know of to find out whether or not a show sucks.

    To me, podcasts are like books, TV and movies. There is an awful lot of dreck out there, but there are some outstanding ones as well. Finding them is half the fun - and half the frustration.

    It sure would help to have our own podcast version of Ebert & Roeper though.
  • deaf-mutedeaf-mute
    edited July 2006
    One of my favourite pod-casts is jpopblast. It's great, and I look forward to it coming out. Then the host says something. The only reason I don't fast forward it is because I will miss the names of the songs. Usually he's not too bad, but there have been two or three times in the past where he sings along to the songs, or put in some lyrics where there should have been no vocals. Very annoying. The editing is okay at times, but usually leaves a lot to be desired (maybe because its done with the mac..?). It also doesn't help that people tell him he's funny when he just annoys me :D

    My other favourite is Anime World Order. They are fantastic, but their audio quality is shit. Skype will do that, I guess. The thing is, even when they say it will be crap because they are all tired/half asleep/etc, the show still ends up brilliant.

    Why isn't 'Anime' in the spell checker?!
    Post edited by MrPeriod on
  • blast flameblast flame
    edited July 2006
    One of my favourite pod-casts is jpopblast. Its great, and I look forward to it coming out. Then the host says something. The only reason I don't fast forward it is because I will miss the names of the songs. Usually he's not too bad, but there have been two or three times in the past where he sings along to the songs, or put in some lyrics where there should have been no vocals. Very annoying. The editing is okay at times, but usually leaves a lot to be desired (maybe because its done with the mac..?). It also doesn't help that people tell him he's funny when he just annoys me :D

    My other favourite is Anime World Order. They are fantastic, but their audio quality is shit. Skype will do that, I guess. The thing is, even when they say it will be crap because they are all tired/half asleep/etc, the show still ends up brilliant.

    Why isn't 'Anime' in the spell checker?!
    There are so many puns I could say about a person named deaf-mute talking about podcasts.
    Post edited by blast flame on
  • deaf-mutedeaf-mute

    There are so many puns I could say about a person named deaf-mute talking about podcasts.
    Yeah, there are a few there. Show me some of yours :P
  • tuttle88tuttle88
    edited July 2006
    I don't mind the pauses and that sort of thing if they are amatuer podcasts. I have gotten rid of a lot that I enjoyed because they were so quiet. You could barely hear them on the computer with the sound all the way up, then I'd get an email and that sound would play and I would burst my ear drums. I listen to a lot of pocasts at the gym or why I'm walking and if the sound isn't loud enough they just get taken off the list. I've got about 30 but some I'm not sure if they aren't updating anymore or they are just slack. TripleJ puts a lot of their most popular shows on podcasts which I love because I like the shows but can't listen all the time.
    Post edited by tuttle88 on
  • AprecheApreche
    edited July 2006
    One of my favourite pod-casts is jpopblast. Its great, and I look forward to it coming out. Then the host says something. The only reason I don't fast forward it is because I will miss the names of the songs. Usually he's not too bad, but there have been two or three times in the past where he sings along to the songs, or put in some lyrics where there should have been no vocals. Very annoying. The editing is okay at times, but usually leaves a lot to be desired (maybe because its done with the mac..?). It also doesn't help that people tell him he's funny when he just annoys me :D
    I listened to J-Pop Blast for awhile. I really wonder how that guy feels playing all that incredibly non-podsafe music. The reason I stopped is because the host really had nothing to offer. I can listen to J-Pop music anytime I want. If the host isn't going to introduce me to new music, or teach me interesting things about J-Pop, then screw it. He used too much of the podcast talking about his personal life and other crap. Here's a tip to podcasters out there. If you're going to do a music podcast, be a DJ. See Derek the Bandit's Sound Republic for what a music podcast should be. He's such a good DJ that I can put up with his Sony sponsorship.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • deaf-mutedeaf-mute
    edited July 2006
    The thing that I like about the show is that it does introduce me to j-pop. I don't listen to much of it because I don't know what's good. I can listen to that, and for the most part enjoy the music that is nothing special, and every now and then hear something and go, "Wow! That's awesome and I must hear more." He annoys the hell out of me, but I can't find another just j-pop podcast. All of them that I saw that cover it mostly do other stuff that I don't care about (or anime, which I DO care about, just not when it isn't AWO).
    Post edited by Rym on
  • blast flameblast flame
    edited July 2006
    I agree that video podcasts should be short. Not because I don't have time to watch them; it is because it drains the iPod's battery quite a bit. If that changes I would be fine with long video podcasts.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • jwallacejwallace
    I agree that there needs to be a dependable podcast for reviewing/critiquing other podcasts. I've tried several podcasts covering technology and gaming and after several months of research the only podcasts worth listening to are Geek Nights (#1), the MacCast (#2), Gamespot's "The Hot Spot" (#3), and 1UP Yours.

    Other podcasts like Nerd Blurb (they mumble into the microphone, and one of the hosts made a racist statement near the end of the program), DS Cubed (the podcast went nowhere), Portable Game Revolution (his podcasts are only about 15-20 minutes and the waiting period could be as long as a month), RadiOPM (listening to some of the recent pocasts, even they struggle to avoid negative comments about Sony's next-gen decisions in the gaming industry) and EGM Live (whose podcast like thier magazine is easily outmatched by Gamespot).

    Next month I'll search for new podcasts in new criterias, but so far only three are worthwhile as far as content, audio and knowledge of the subject matter.
  • AprecheApreche
    edited July 2006
    http://podcastpeers.org/index.html

    Could this be the ticket to solving the problem of mostly crap podcasts?
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • StarfoxStarfox
    ^^ And why isn't geeknights a nominee yet?
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