Finding Commercial Podcasts

OK, so you have used your podcatcher software to scour the "airwaves" of cyberspace for the content that tickles your fancy the most. But the world of so-called free podcasts is just one portion of the equation. Although some people would disagree, I'm inclined to fit audiobooks into the podcast category, as well as periodicals that are routinely converted to audio format. As mentioned in Chapter 1, Audible.com is one of the forerunners of commercial podcasting, but if you look hard enough (and often, you don't have to look very hard), you can find commercial podcasts all over the place.

Following are locations where you can purchase podcasts and audio-book materials online.

Audible.Com

www.audible.com

Around since the late 1990s, Audible.com (Figure 2.33) is the dominant audiobook and commercial-podcast-content vendor on the World Wide Web. Audible's principal role is to supply audiobooks in MP3 format for users to listen to on their favorite MP3 players, iPods, or desktop media players. Voted one of the best sites on the Web in 2003 by CNET.com, Audible has well over 30,000 hours' worth of content for you to explore. Although most of this content has a cost associated with it, Audible offers various subscriptions that lower the effective cost of an audiobook to less than $10.

Figure 2.33. Audible.com is a great source for commercial podcasts.

Certainly, some people would argue that commercial audiobooks are not truly podcasts, but I maintain that any audio program that can be easily downloaded and enjoyed on a digital music player such as the iPod should be considered in the same breath with so-called free podcasts. The number of available audiobooks has skyrocketed, and because the majority of them are now unabridged and often read by the author, it's hard to argue that the original content (or intent) of a book is lost in the conversion to the aural format. In fact, even though I'm an avid podcast enthusiast, I have more than 150 audiobooks on my 40 GB iPod.

The periodicals and subscription shows better fit the traditional podcast mold, however. Indeed, the amount of podcastlike content on Audible.com has expanded greatly in the past couple of years; it now includes audio versions of popular newspapers, magazines, and radio shows, and even custom-made podcasts such as the fantastically funny "[e-mail]" show (Figure 2.34).

Figure 2.34. Robin Williams's show is exclusive to Audible.com and is absolutely hilarious. The show has a different celebrity guest every week.

For Free or Not for Free: That Is the Question

In the case of some podcast content, it's important to be absolutely sure that you don't have to pay for something before you pay for it. Although that may sound convoluted, there are instances in which podcasts are both available for free and are for sale simultaneously (both legally). The great NPR show "Science Friday," for example, can be bought as a 12-month subscription (the show airs every Friday) for $44.95. A little (very little) digging, however, gets you the exact same content for free via podcasts in the iTunes (or any other) podcast directory. I've come across several of these rather odd contradictions in the past year, so the message is that it's worth checking to make absolutely sure that something isn't available for free (legally).

It's also worth pointing out that some content might be available for free, but it might very well be illegal, so be sure you're doing the right thing before you snap up a "free" program. In the case of "Science Friday," the free podcast is available directly from the show's very own Web site, so it's obviously legal and sanctioned by both NPR and "Science Friday."

Audio Book Club

www.audiobookclub.com

Audio Book Club (Figure 2.35) is an online book club that specializes in audiobooks of all kinds, including downloadable podcast-type books. The idea is that you can get just-released audiobooks for a discount of 10 percent to 20 percent by shopping at the club's Web site. Although you can order cassette or CD-based audiobooks, the Audio Book Club also offers downloadable books so that you can have them immediately available on your digital media device or computer.

Figure 2.35. Audio Book Club is another option for online audiobooks.

Audiobooks Online

www.audiobooksonline.com

Audiobooks Online (Figure 2.36) is an online merchant that sells (at this time) audiobooks only. The company claims that it will be offering audiobooks in MP3 format for download in the near future, but the one intriguing product it does sell is MP3 CDs of classic books. These files cannot be downloadedindeed, you must have the CDs shipped to a real mailboxbut they're available for a bevy of classic titles, from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

Figure 2.36. Audiobooks Online is a source for classic audiobooks.

Blackstone Audiobooks

www.blackstoneaudio.com

Another of the audiobook Web sites, Blackstone Audiobooks (Figure 2.37) is unique in that it is an actual producer of audiobook content. You'll find a fair amount of crossover between what is available on Audible.com and what's on BlackstoneAudio.com. Still, this is another good source for audiobooks that are available for immediate download to your digital media player.

Figure 2.37. Many newly released audiobooks are published by Blackstone Audiobooks.

iTunes Music Store

www.apple.com/itunes

Apple's iTunes Music Store (Figure 2.38) opened on April 28, 2003, and in slightly more than 3 years since it opened, more than a billion songs (yes, you read that correctly) have been downloaded. The store itself is now available in 15 countries, and by the time you read this book, that number will likely have grown.

Figure 2.38. The iTunes Canada Music Store. Already, more than 1 billion (yes, a 1 with nine 0s after it) music downloads have occurred, and the amount of podcast material in the store is always increasing.

Why does this matter to podcast enthusiasts? As the iTunes Music Store has evolved, an increasing number of podcast-type downloads (other than those available for free in the podcast section) has become available for purchase and download. The kind of content available includes comedy shows, podcasts, and even television talk shows. With the addition of video podcasting to the equation, more video-based productssuch as music videos, television shows, and animated shortsare being sold as well. Although the iTunes Music Store doesn't have quite the selection that Audible.com does, I suspect that this groundbreaking Web site will continue to add podcast content as the phenomenon continues to grow.

Satellite Radio

www.xmsatelliteradio.com and www.siriusradio.com

Satellite radio is a novel approach to broadcasting radio. The idea is that a satellite receiver in a home or car provides access to potentially hundreds of radio stations, in categories ranging from classical to children's programming to up-to-date traffic reports around the clock! This service has caught on and now boasts more than 3 million subscribers. Currently, two satellite radio providers are available: XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.

Like any radio service, however, satellite radio is broadcast live at particular times, making it entirely possible for busy professionals to miss the programming they desire. Not to worryboth XM and Sirius supply streaming podcasts of most of their key shows (Figure 2.39), but this is not a free service. If you are already a satellite-radio subscriber, however, the service is included in your fees.

Figure 2.39. XM Satellite Radio is one of two services available in the United States.