E-Media Tidbits

If you're anything like me, you're suffering from an even higher degree of information overload since podcasting got popular. Here's my experience:

Podcasting got really easy and convenient when Apple added it as a feature to its iTunes music software. And now that there's a rich and deep listing of podcasts to subscribe to -- from interesting amateur stuff to podcasts by mainstream media organizations -- I find that my list of podcasts is growing.

So far, I'm listening to a couple from National Public Radio (Story of the Day, 7 a.m. News Roundup); several from the New York Times (Front Page News Summary, several op-ed columnists); Marketwatch Internet Daily; On the Media; The Onion Radio News; and The President's Weekly Radio Address parody (those last two for fun). My behavior may or may not be typical: I listen to my podcasts on my PC while multitasking, rather than on my iPod.

While my list isn't too long yet, I keep finding new podcasts to add. The NYT Front Page Summary was added today. (That's a great concept, by the way. A Times reporter summarizes the front-page stories of the day, making for a useful two minutes for my attention. Perhaps it's time for all newspapers to produce a similar daily audio summary.)

Previously, my list of blogs to track grew out of control; my RSS reader software tracks more of them than I have time to actually look at. And now that more and more podcast content is appearing, I can envision my podcast tracking getting out of control soon enough, too.

So much media, so little time. Where will it end? I suppose with some ruthless trimming of blogs and podcasts I'd like to read and listen to, but they don't make it to the top of the list of those I have the time to consume.

What podcasts are you listening to?