Slated Podcasting...

I have never really paid much attention to Slate until it started a daily "Podcast". Podcasting (see here for Apple PR piece) itself is something I have now become somewhat addicted to since it provides me with a reprieve from the blather on the radio (even my cherished NPR -- especially during fund-raising season) as I do my 50 minute commute to work each morning. Generally the Podcast offerings are pretty much 'crap', with Slate being the major exception. Except for a few seconds devoted to some car commercial, the 5 to 7 minute reading of a recent column or article from Slate is terrific stuff. This has been especially true over the past week or so. Just before Katrina hit the US, there were two wonderful readings of excerpts from a series of pieces by Seth Stevenson on "Should I Move to Amsterdam?" (see here for written article; here and here for MP3 versions of the podcasts). Since Katrina the quality of Slate's offerings has been even more impressive. Podcast-wise, the two released thus far ("Department of Homeland Screw-Up" on Friday and "Why New Orleans Was Built in a Bowl" on Thursday) are terrific, and I don't envy the Slate podcast editor's task of selecting among all the great pieces coming out. I hope they give some thought to doing two or three a day -- at least for now. But then there is the option to just go to the site and read.... SlatePodcasts