As I might have mentioned before, I am not as young as I used to be. Although I have been into computers for over ten years now, there are still plenty of micro gadgets that pass me by, too new-fangled and strange for me to get my head around, as grey-haired as it is.
And that is how I have felt about podcasting for some time now. Just a way for barely-literate people to spread their disease, I thought, another way for the gabble of incessant chatter to invade our peace with mindless nonsense. That's old-fogy-speak for, "I'll never be able to learn how to use all this new stuff..."
Every so often something comes along to change my mind on these matters, however, and recently it happened to me again. It's all Sidepodcast.com's fault, with their fancy gadgets and tempting suggestions that we listen instead of reading. Okay, I thought, let's find out how we operate this thing.
Now, to an old geezer, it's not immediately obvious how to go about listening to what they have to say. On the right there is a big purple graphic suggesting that I subscribe to iTunes (whatever that is) so I assumed that I had to do that first. I clicked on it.
Well, dear reader, be warned; that click leads you into a maze of Appledom, where shiny, softly-glowing programs instal themselves on your poor but proud old Windows computer and then challenge you to find out how they work. I did eventually manage to get everything working, although I must also admit that it played a podcast other than the one I was hoping for.
I grew tired. I closed the flashy thing down, telling myself I'd return at a later date and attempt to hear the desired podcast. And it was at that point that I noticed a little graphic sitting underneath the title of the Sidepodcast post. A little muted, self-effacing thing, sort of muddy, tan in color, and with a speaker icon and arrow sitting quietly atop it.
I knew then that I'd made an idiot of myself. It dawned on me that here was the route for us benighted Windows users who only understand computers; that other fancy thing was for those modern, hip types who have such a thing as an iPod (whatever that is...). And my suspicions were confirmed - clicking on it produced an immediate result, the dulcet tones of some sweet lass and her learned sidekick telling me all that I ever wished to know about the latest in the F1 world. Ah, the marvels of modern science.
So I am a convert to this new-fangled thingy, the podcast, at least when it comes in the form of Sidepodcast.com. It makes a pleasant change to sit back and listen for a while, instead of scrolling, forever scrolling. And, talking of scrolling, the blog's pretty good too; in fact; I will be adding it to my links page when I can summon the energy to edit the HTML (yes, a MadTV blog requires that one gets one's hands dirty every once in a while).
Have a listen yourself - I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Here's the link.
And that is how I have felt about podcasting for some time now. Just a way for barely-literate people to spread their disease, I thought, another way for the gabble of incessant chatter to invade our peace with mindless nonsense. That's old-fogy-speak for, "I'll never be able to learn how to use all this new stuff..."
Every so often something comes along to change my mind on these matters, however, and recently it happened to me again. It's all Sidepodcast.com's fault, with their fancy gadgets and tempting suggestions that we listen instead of reading. Okay, I thought, let's find out how we operate this thing.
Now, to an old geezer, it's not immediately obvious how to go about listening to what they have to say. On the right there is a big purple graphic suggesting that I subscribe to iTunes (whatever that is) so I assumed that I had to do that first. I clicked on it.
Well, dear reader, be warned; that click leads you into a maze of Appledom, where shiny, softly-glowing programs instal themselves on your poor but proud old Windows computer and then challenge you to find out how they work. I did eventually manage to get everything working, although I must also admit that it played a podcast other than the one I was hoping for.
I grew tired. I closed the flashy thing down, telling myself I'd return at a later date and attempt to hear the desired podcast. And it was at that point that I noticed a little graphic sitting underneath the title of the Sidepodcast post. A little muted, self-effacing thing, sort of muddy, tan in color, and with a speaker icon and arrow sitting quietly atop it.
I knew then that I'd made an idiot of myself. It dawned on me that here was the route for us benighted Windows users who only understand computers; that other fancy thing was for those modern, hip types who have such a thing as an iPod (whatever that is...). And my suspicions were confirmed - clicking on it produced an immediate result, the dulcet tones of some sweet lass and her learned sidekick telling me all that I ever wished to know about the latest in the F1 world. Ah, the marvels of modern science.
So I am a convert to this new-fangled thingy, the podcast, at least when it comes in the form of Sidepodcast.com. It makes a pleasant change to sit back and listen for a while, instead of scrolling, forever scrolling. And, talking of scrolling, the blog's pretty good too; in fact; I will be adding it to my links page when I can summon the energy to edit the HTML (yes, a MadTV blog requires that one gets one's hands dirty every once in a while).
Have a listen yourself - I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Here's the link.