Podcast Radio Recommendations

January 13, 2005 2:32 PM

I just got an iPod and have signed up for a free one-month trial of Audible.com. I get two free downloads. I'm planning to try one book and a monthly subscription to one radio show and am looking for recommendations. [MI]

Radio shows:
I'm not too familiar with American radio, as I live in Canada. My default station here is CBC, and current favourite shows are The Roundup, The Current, and As It Happens. I'm thinking of subscribing to either This American Life or Car Talk.

Books:
I read everything from the latest trashy novels (e.g. the Shopaholic series) to sci fi and fantasy (Neil Gaiman is a favourite), to biographies, etc.

Keeping the above in mind, does anyone have recommendations for specific books and/or shows?

posted by sanitycheck to Technology (16 answers total)

I wouldn't use your subscription on This American Life. You can listen to all of their shows in Real Audio.
posted by trey at 2:41 PM on January 13, 2005

As Real Audio isn't really portable to the iPod, I would blow my other means, but... yeah, I'd do it.

And if you haven't read Stephen King's Dark Tower series, it's pretty nifty as read by him. Same with The Stand.
posted by FlamingBore at 3:09 PM on January 13, 2005

Even better, you can use Streamers to record TAL's RA stream and put the shows in your iTunes library [if you're on a Mac -- if not, I'm sure there's a similar utility on the Windows side].

As for Audible books, I recommend The Kid Stays In The Picture [itms link], read unabridged over six hours by its author, Robert Evans [imdb link].
posted by britain at 3:09 PM on January 13, 2005

er, totally bothced that. Sorry.

That's supposed to say "I would blow my subscription on TAL"
posted by FlamingBore at 3:10 PM on January 13, 2005

i've been an audible member for about two years. it's hard to pick a favourite, but if i had to pick, i'd say the philip pullman "his dark materials" series. it's very well done with a full cast. very hard to stop listening to. though if you're going to do if for one month, you'd only get volume one and miss the other two. brilliant stuff.
posted by heather at 3:17 PM on January 13, 2005

I'd get Dubliners.
posted by josh at 3:24 PM on January 13, 2005

I have a similar subscription (1 book and 1 subscription) and I usually get Science Friday for my subscription since I'm rarely around the house to listen to the radio on Friday night at 8 p.m. and even if I were I'd probably rather be chillin'. It's nice to listen to on the bus.

I love Wait Wait Don't Tell Me but I always listen to it on Saturday morning on the broadcast, or else online on the NPR site for free.

For the books I tend towards light but intelligent nonfiction - so far I've gotten The Wisdom of Crowds, The Know-It-All, and A Brief History of Nearly Everything. All of them I would highly recommend, especially the last one.
posted by matildaben at 3:59 PM on January 13, 2005

I've been an audible member since audible started. I love it. I only listen to unabridged books. Here are some that I really loved:

House of Mirth
The George R. R. Martin Books (Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords)
Patrick O'Brian books (starting with Master and Commander)
War and Peace (about 60 hours long, I think)
Jane Austin novels
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Memoires of a Geisha
posted by grumblebee at 4:03 PM on January 13, 2005

I've been a member for a few months now and I looooove it. I subscribe to This American Life so that I don't have to worry about trying to catch it when it airs on the radio. My favorite audio books so far are "Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim" by David Sedaris, and my current super-nerdly commute joy -- "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" narrated by Douglas Adams himself. Love it!
posted by kittyb at 5:11 PM on January 13, 2005

I enjoyed "The Company: A Novel of the CIA", Robert Littell. I can't seem to find it on their site though, but I did download from them in the past.
posted by sled at 5:22 PM on January 13, 2005

"The Birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant was great. But the absolute best thing I ever got from Audible was Madeline L'Engle reading "A Wrinkle in Time".
posted by judith at 6:00 PM on January 13, 2005

I've been an Audible premium member for two years and I listen to audiobooks constantly. I have a This American Life yearly subscription that I love because I don't have the time to stream and then make the bookmarkable aac files myself and I like being able to support them.

Some of the best audiobooks I own:

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (my favorite)
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Hitchhikers Series by Douglas Adams
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin
The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Stiff by Mary Roach

If you don't do this already I'd suggest that you listen to the samples of books before you get them. The wrong narrator ruins the book.
posted by nuala at 7:32 PM on January 13, 2005

I second the Hitchiker's Series, becaue they're read by Douglas Adams. They're really great.

Anything by David Sedaris is always a stitch.
posted by o2b at 9:06 PM on January 13, 2005

Big +1 to the comment nuala made about previewing before buying. I bought 1984 from Audible and it was read by an actual zombie. I kid you not.

If you can handle hokey dialog but an otherwise fun story I would suggest Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci code by Dan Brown. They're a bit long (13-18 hours, IIRC) but the pace is very nice.
posted by pookzilla at 10:32 PM on January 13, 2005

Response by poster: So it turns out I actually get 2 free books (and no free subscriptions. boo.)

I just bought A Short History of Nearly Everything, and I think Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim may be my second freebie. If I like those two, I'll pay for a subscription and try This American Life next month (I'll check out the RealAudio version this month to see what I think of it). I wish they had Canadian radio selections, though. I would gladly pay for a weekly Vinyl Cafe or Quirks and Quarks subscription.
posted by sanitycheck at 11:18 PM on January 13, 2005

I have the two book a month subscription, and absolutely love it. I second "The Company," referenced by sled, above (here's a link). It's 36 hours (!) unabridged, but amazingly I was so disappointed when it ended. To top it off, the reader, Scott Brick, is my favorite. I also recommend "Devil in the White City" (also read by Brick), and "Skinny Dip" by Carl Hiasson. I'm currently listening to "I Am Charlotte Simmons," which I have very mixed feelings about.
posted by pardonyou? at 6:41 AM on January 14, 2005