Two peas

Ah, the Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year 2007:

"pod slurping noun the downloading of large quantities of data to an MP3 player or memory stick from a computer."
From: http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=2140

Have only just this year got my own very groovy little ipod shuffle and my first iTunes account. A birthday present belying middle age. So have been enjoying my $1.69 forays into downloading.
Haven't really experimented much with podcasting elsewhere. Have had a quick look at the Library of Congress webcasts and British Library podcasts. Of all the Web 2.0 technologies, I think this one's got fabulous potential for our industry. Client education / entertainment / infotainment / staff training / talks / events / exhibition guides etc. Cheap and easy to produce and the offerings are more likely to withstand the test of time. Hey, no fashion disasters to embarrass us later and no makeover necessary!

A recent visit to the ABC site reveals a plethora of pod (and vod) choice. You will never miss anything on the wireless again. (Well as long as you get in fairly soon after you missed it.) Their set up is nice and easy to use. Listen now or later.
Sadly the one thing that really took my fancy - Garrison Keillor's News from Lake Wobegon wasn't theirs to podcast - and led me on a merry chase to try to and hear "the latest news and views from the little town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." "
Obviously the folk there are pretty IT savvy too, as I was a bit lost when told to paste the URL into my podcasting client.
Sure, there were links to iTunes and how to download from there, but my "client" if that's what it is, was at home.
I followed another link to audible.com where it was just was just 95c (US) to listen, but I didn't have the small change and wasn't feeling strong enough for another batch of passwords.
Back home to Radio National and the choices are many and blissfully free. And, hey, if I get the head movements right, no one on the bus will suspect I'm listening to Background Briefing.
And on a different but related topic you might be interested to know that the Macquarie Dictionary 2007 People's Choice Award went to…
"password fatigue noun a level of frustration reached by having too many different passwords to remember, resulting in an inability to remember even those most commonly used."