I put an 8GB iPod Nano on my Christmas list this year.  I don’t really expect to get it – it is, after all, a fairly expensive item. 

Initially, I had rebelled against anything iPod.  I tend to reject fad movements, and iPods were one of those things that spread throughout American culture like wildfire.  They were new, they were hip, and I didn’t want one.  Besides, I couldn’t be sure how reliable they’d be.  Technology developers tend to have this bad habit about releasing new toys without first making sure they are glitch-free.

Lately, though, I’ve decided I’d like to get one.  For one thing, I’d love to have a way to keep all of my music with me all the time.  My professional job requires me to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, and throughout most of that time, I keep music playing to help me focus. 

I’ve also discovered a desire to follow a couple of interesting podcasts.  Now, podcasting is another of those fads that I’ve been reluctant to get into, partially because most of them seem to be pointless and partially because a lot of them are rather poorly done.¹

The podcasts in question can be found in the link in my sidebar.  All three are speculative fiction.  Voices of Tomorrow is the podcast for the 365 Tomorrows flash fiction site.  The owners of that site have been reading staff stories and publishing them through their service for anyone interested in listening.  The other two podcasts, 7th Son and Mortal Ghost, are novels being published via podcast.  I’ve been using a little program called Doppler to download these podcasts, even though I haven’t listened to a single episode from any of them as yet.  I find that listening to them at work interferes with my ability to get anything done, and I don’t sit still long enough at home to listen to them on my computer there. 

That just leaves the time that I spend on the road traveling to and from the office, the feed store, etc.² Slap the iPod into a car kit, plug it into my stereo, and voila! Instant books on tape, so to speak.  Seems like a good idea to me, and it lets me work through some more great fiction and keep my mind occupied throughout the course of my drive.  Seems like a winner of an idea to me.

Go check these podcasts out, especially if you’re a speculative fiction nut like I am.  They’ve all gotten pretty good reviews, so I think they’re worth checking out.

1. Though the overall quality is improving as more and more people get into podcasting, thus increasing the levels of competition.[back]
2. And let’s face it, I don’t really listen to the radio that much, anyway.[back]