my name is mwd

Chatting to Quentin over lunch we touched on the topic of what podcasts we listen to, and how it’s usually only by word of mouth we find out new ones, so I thought I’d share the ones I listen to mostly.

• Hypercritical and Build & Analyze – these two podcasts fill a similar niche, but thanks to having different hosts they don’t overlap hugely in content. Hypercritical features John Siracusa, he of the infinitely long Mac OS X reviews on Ars Technica, and B&A features Marco Arment who writes Instapaper. Both cover topical Apple/mobile/tablet/web issues mostly, with an obvious programmers slant on things. If I had to pick just one, it’d be Hypercritical, but I do enough getting to and from places a week I can fit both in usually.

• The Talk Show – kinda similar area to the last two, but hosted by the inimitable John Gruber of Daring Fireball. Techy, but without the programmer’s perspective, so a very useful second opinion to the other two shows. I tend to listen to this one about 50% of the time, as I like Gruber’s take on things, but if I run out of time to keep up with the week’s podcasts I let this one drop as it does overlap with the others a bit. Still, if you’re less into programming but still want to keep up with Apple/mobile/tablet/web, this would be the one to pick of the three.

• Iterate – a nice podcast about mobile and web design. Usually splits itself half between topical discussion and interview with someone notable. Whereas the first two podcasts here are techy geeky, this is design geeky, something that’s just as important in building modern applications for users, so I definitely rank this as a must listen for me. Comes out about every other week to, so easier to slot in between the relentless 5by5 releases :)

• Monocle Weekly – I must confess I’ve fallen behind on these ones since I no longer commute as much as I have in the past, but I thought I should include one non-techy podcast in here. The Monocle Weekly is a current affairs podcast, and whilst slightly eclectic in scope, is usually reasonably jolly, and there’s a chance you’ll find a good coffee shop recommendation somewhere. Although if you’re the kind of person who gets annoyed at How To Spend It though, probably best avoid.

That’s about it at the moment. Given I work at home these days, I listen to less than I used to. I also have a low tollerance for podcasts that descend into “gee [regular co-host name], tell us about your week” – the reason I gave up on listening to things like MacBreak Weekly (though I’ve not listened for over a year, so it could have got better since then). It makes you realised the difference between professional broadcasters and people with a microphone and some bandwidth. Compare and contrast your average podcast with something well produced like Click on the BBC, and there’s a world of difference.

If you have other recommendations do let me know. I’m missing a good games podcast since the Bungie crew went radio silent after the release of Reach.