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I'm big into podcasts, though I won't claim to be an OG podcast consumer - podcasts began into the early 00s, but only really exploded in the mid-2010s. I suspect many people will credit Serial for being the podcast that really launched the medium into mainstream consciousness (I, too, probably really got into podcasts around that time). Since then, podcasts as a medium has really boomed. And I'm a big fan. In this age of 30-second video clips and short attention spans, I do appreciate the conscientious effort to develop long-form content. And in the age doomscrolling driven by endless scroll mechanisms I like the finite, time-limited, episodic nature of podcasts. For me, it also helps to get away from what sometimes feels like too much content. But today, it feels like there's too much of podcasts. Two things. First, video podcasts. Part of it, of course, is the evolution of podcast content. The space used to be dominated by story-telling (a lot of true crime, of course), a format that's perhaps less conducive to video. Indeed, many of these podcasts feel more like 'traditional' written content, whether its a book or perhaps an investigative news piece. However, these days I'd argue there's a lot more commentary-style content. I myself consume a fair amount of NBA ones, but there's of course also a ton about pop culture, movies, tv shows, the list goes on. Hell, many TV series (HBO, especially) automatically come with an accompanying officially-produced podcast. This type of content naturally lends itself more to a visual format, because of course such a format already exists in the form of talkshows and daytime TV! Conan O'Brien puts it best: He often jokes that he got out of late night TV to get into podcasting, but now even his podcast feels like its turning back into his late night TV show. Oh the irony. And of course, these videos are then clipped up to be posted on social media, which just further adds to the content bloat that I'm trying to get away from (I swear, there's so much podcast-stuff on my Youtube page/IG feed). But there's a simple enough solve, at least for me. Just stick to the audio format. That's what I largely do. The second more recent development is what's grating at me: There's just too much content. It seems that every podcast I subscribe to is now producing so much more content: Live shows, mini shows, spinoffs episodes, just too many damn episodes. The end result is that there's just too much. Like, literally more than I can actively consume. My current queued up episodes amount to 61h40m, and I probably already consume between 5-10hrs a week. I also think it somewhat diminishes what I want from a podcast. I don't want it, them, whoever, to be perpetually present. I like my once a week catch up. Of course, it all comes back to money. As more and more people get into the space, the increased competition drives a need for greater ad revenue, yada yada. As usual, capitalism ruins everything. Ugh. Rant over.

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Significantly more than I listen to music, actually. Many years ago, after some brief research/listening to someones opinion about it (on a podcast), I made the decision to set the playback speed at 1.2x. It's been that way ever since. Now, there's a fair amount of debate over the "correct" speed to listen to podcasts. Some will die on the 1.2x hill (myself included). Others may even take it further to 1.5x or even 2x, controversial as that may be. 1.2x feels comfortable for me. Quickened enough to help get through more, but not quick enough that it sounds rushed and there's even a detectable pitch difference. My current queue of episodes is in excess of 20, so I certainly have incentive to get through more more quickly. It is, obviously, a matter of preference. But I do think medium and form matters. The podcasts I mainly listen to are largely conversational in nature, so going a little bit more quickly doesn't hurt the actual form and substance of it (I think). It's ultimately a matter of information consumption, and if you can do it at a more rapid pace, why not? It's akin to reading - if you can read an article 1.2x faster then someone else and still get all the same information, that seems perfectly reasonable to do. But I certainly don't think the same is true for TV or movies, and especially not for music. For such mediums that have been specifically crafted to a particular tempo, well, tempo matters. Tempo is integral to the product. And I do think that especially for visual mediums, speeding things up feels more noticeable than just on audio. And then there's the curious realm of Youtube, where speed adjustments was introduced in 2010, but more granular control was introduced only in 2024 (which to me is shockingly late). And even though I do consume a fair amount of informational content on Youtube (chat shows, interviews, TV episode breakdowns etc), I seldom speed things up. Why? I don't even know. Perhaps its entirely habitual. Having spent to much of my podcast-listening-life at 1.2x, that has become the norm for me. Even hearing any of those people in other contexts at just 1x feels odd - i'm so used to a particular cadence. And perhaps the opposite is true - I've become so used to 1x on Youtube that anything different rubs up against my innate sense of pattern recognition. But I also think its because on Youtube, there's a greater variety in terms of the types of content available. Sports highlights? I would never speed them up. A 40 minute Actors on Actors conversation? 1.2x would do just fine. But having to regularly adjust according to what I'm watching? I think that's where I subconsciously draw the line. Call me lazy, but i much rather set-and-forget. The defaults are the defaults - it's just that for podcasts, my default is now 1.2x. Anyway, what else in life would be good to 1.2x? Boring work meetings, now that's a definite 1.5x.

http://radio1003.com/pod-details/event_id/228