I Hear Voices

Having joined the future and purchased my first Ipod, I have been whoring over podcasts ever since.

I'm of the last generation that can remember when radio was good, when it had actual personalities instead of watered down, commercially safe personas (The Perky DJ! The Curmudgeonly Right Wing Host Who Thinks It's All Gone To Hell Cause We Have No Morals Anymore And Weren't Raised In The Country! The Bland Morning DJ Who Says The Same Thing Each Morning!). I spent many a childhood night listening to my green leatherbound AM radio while the house slept around me, trying to feel less afraid because somewhere someone else was awake, talking about the latest Supertramp album and sipping his coffee. As the years have gone by, the aim of radio stations seems to be to provide a banal background noise, as inoffensive and free of sharp edges as it is welcoming to cautious advertisers, especially those who think cutting edge humour is to make references to sit-coms that have been off the air for ten years.

At their best, podcasts embody the spirit of radio far more than the commercial aspect of it does today. The part I enjoy the most about podcasts is the simple display of actual conversation. This is something that is impossible to maintain on commercial radio, with the constant demon of having to hit ads at the precise minute the advertisers paid for them, which leads to abrupt endings to discussions more often that not, breaking a flow which is never able to be recaptured again, if it was ever there at all.It's jarring to listen to, because that's not how people talk--unless you're the target market, which means you have ADD and probably wouldn't remember what the topic was anyway.

Here, then, are some of the podcasts I've been enjoying. Most are gaming and comic centric, because that's how I roll. All of these can be found on the lowering beast we call iTunes. All of these podcasts do what radio doesn't: they provide good company and interesting conversation. Oh, and much laughter.

In no specific order...

1. Alpha Holes Podcast--This was introduced to me by Crazylegs, for which I thank and curse him. These are gamers with a fondness for World Of Warcraft, which isn't the best thing for a recovering WoW addict to listen to. But there's a woman called Christy who is worth the price of the free download all on her own.

2. Awesomed By Comics--Boyfriend/Girlfriend talk comics, and they have the good taste to like everything I do.

3. War Rocket Ajax--More comics podcasts, with arcane discussions of books that only the truly funnybook addicted remember. Like this.

4. Four Guys One Up--Rising from the ashes of Listen Up, host David Ellis brings the love of video games each week. At least I hope he does. He's only done the one so far, but he's been a podcast staple for so long, I'm sure he'll do fine.

5. A Life Less Wasted--Occasional podcast that looks at gaming culture with well written, well produced documentaries on all things dorkish.

6. TalkRadar--Loud, often amateurish, but like a rambunctious kid who insists the kitchen table is the perfect place to stage his air guitar show, you can't help but admire the spirit and energy.

7. Idle Thumbs--Composed of older gaming professionals, this one was a gem, and is sadly down to its final two shows. Damn it all.

8. Gamers With Jobs--Similar to Idle Thumbs, but has the distinction of still being around. Older guys talking games who enjoy each other's company, and it translates into the show.

There are others I haven't got around to listening to yet--namely IFanboy--but there's enough here to keep you going for at least a week.

So what do you listen to? Outside of Mousecast, you Disney freaks, you.