Libertarians are Pod People!

Julian Sanchez | April 12, 2006

I've just noticed that the Cato Institute started offering podcasts a little while back. ("Podcast" apparently being how we have to refer to what, in Ye Olden Dayes, was known as "an MP3 file.") You can subscribe to their RSS feed or via iTunes. The Right Wing Conspiracy (Junior Varsity Division), aka America's Future Foundation, also offers podcasts of its roundtable events and AFF Radio.

Comments

|4.12.06 @ 2:49PM|#

But you repeat yourself.

fyodor|4.12.06 @ 3:19PM|#

("Podcast" apparently being how we have to refer to what, in Ye Olden Dayes, was known as "an MP3 file.")

|4.12.06 @ 3:22PM|#

Trumpy, you can do stupid things!

|4.12.06 @ 3:27PM|#

You should check out the Crab People Podcast.

CRAB PEOPLE!

CRAB PEOPLE!

Tom Morris|4.12.06 @ 3:38PM|#

"("Podcast" apparently being how we have to refer to what, in Ye Olden Dayes, was known as "an MP3 file.")"

On the same note, there is no difference between the magazine and the fact that it's delivered to you by post. Podcasting is the delivery technology. Of course, this distinction isn't new, nor are the people who don't get it. See:
http://www.thetwowayweb.com/payloadsforrss#thisIsJustEmail

fyodor|4.12.06 @ 3:40PM|#

("Podcast" apparently being how we have to refer to what, in Ye Olden Dayes, was known as "an MP3 file.")

The post that wasn't eaten also said:

So they ARE the same? I've been wondering about that!!

|4.12.06 @ 3:58PM|#

Look, I'm not saying that iPods are a plot to replace each user with a space alien substitute.

Then again I'm not not saying that, either. Sure, the name is just a coincidence. Friggin' pod people. Don't come near me! Aiiiieeeeeeee!

|4.12.06 @ 6:33PM|#

"So they ARE the same? I've been wondering about that!!"

Well, most podcasts are in mp3 format, but not all of them. The G4 network podcasts some of its shows as mp4 video files.

|4.12.06 @ 7:47PM|#

Tom,
But the Ipod isn't really the delivering technology. Your computer and the interenet are delivering you the product. The Ipod is just something you could, if you were a real major leauge geek, transfer the file onto and listen to later on while you were on stairmaster or something. But I know that most non-music files that I listen to I listen to through my headphones on my laptop or desktop. Podcasting is just stupid term. You aren't casting anything through a Pod. The casting is being done through two computers and an internet connection. The Pod is just something that the file can be put into later.

|4.12.06 @ 9:11PM|#

It is a useful distinction to know whether an internet-delivered "radio show" is available as a file (podcast) or as streaming audio, or both.

Kevin

|4.12.06 @ 9:19PM|#

I agree Kevin. I just find the term "Podcast" to be an unbearably annoying way in which to make that distinction. This is a cultural issue for sure, but I just resent a bunch of soccer Moms and Apple Pimps foisting this monstosity of a word upon us. I don't know anyone with even the slightest amount of tech savy (other than the aforementioned MacHeads) who don't find the term completely intolerable.

|4.13.06 @ 12:53AM|#

Pod People?

"Turmpy! You can do stupid things!"

Sorry, I couldn't resist the MST3K reference. I'll see if I can add it to my iTunes directory next to CNN, Skepticality, and The Penn Jillette Show.

Believe it or not, I've started my own podcast. Not political mind you, but for miniature wargaming enthusiasts. You can find it at

|4.13.06 @ 12:55AM|#

GAH! FingFangFoom beat me to the punch. Crap.

Tom Morris|4.13.06 @ 3:09AM|#

"But the Ipod isn't really the delivering technology. Your computer and the interenet are delivering you the product."

No, the point is it's done automatically. What you listen to it on is not the point - iPod, computer, other MP3 player, cell phone. The thing is it's done automatically. I don't have to remember to go and listen to a weekly show 9am on a Monday morning (usually, I'm busy at that time). I just wait an hour or two and it's delivered to me automatically. And I simply plug my iPod in to my computer and it's automatically copied over.

As opposed to me having to remember that it's released on a certain day and time, at a certain location online, then whizzing off to that location each week to download it and manually transfer it. It's a delivery technology, pure and simple. You may not like the name - call it "RSS with enclosures" if you like - but it is a labour-saving mechanism, not just hype and not "just" an MP3 file, any more than Netflix is "just" a DVD.

80sfan|4.15.06 @ 12:13AM|#

J-San: I, too, was surprised to see that the Oggcast had become the Podblast