Audiobooks > Podcasts

Does anybody else feel like podcasts are past their prime? I know there are more podcasts produced than ever but few of them are worth listening to anymore. There are exceptions but most of the shows are derivative and uninspired. At least that’s how I feel.

I started listening to podcasts in 2009 when I was doing landscaping work in the summer. I mainly wanted to listen to long-form shows that could fill up my day and were consistently updated. I started listening to The Dave Ramsey Show because there were three hours of it every weekday–not to mention I was horrible with money at the time. I think every other call at that time was from somebody facing foreclosure or a car repossession. The chatter helped me get through those long, hot summer days.

After I filled my cup with financial information, I started listening to WTF with Marc Maron. I quickly became a regular listener of Marc’s show until episode 1,000; after that episode, I stopped listening. I felt like I had heard enough. Plus, Marc’s show became increasingly political, which I didn’t care to follow. His show introduced me to The Best Show, which I’ll be forever grateful for.

The Best Show with Tom Scharpling was a weekly, three-hour-long live radio show on WFMU, an independent radio station in New Jersey. The show was recorded and uploaded as a podcast every Wednesday. Tom’s show was unlike anything I had ever heard. It was bizarre, funny, and spontaneous. The callers brought a texture to the show that I hadn’t heard elsewhere. I listened to The Best Show consistently between 2012 and 2019. I even went to see Tom live in Nashville in 2015 and was able to meet him. But his show eventually lost my interest due to format changes and lacking the time to follow a three-hour, weekly podcast.

The only podcast that has held my attention longer than a few years is Hardcore History by Dan Carlin. This show is for history fans who want an almost novelized version of a story from history. The Blueprint for Armageddon episodes from 2013 to 2015 are my favorite. The six episodes within this series take nearly 20 hours to get through. Dan’s shows are more like an audiobook than a podcast. He releases maybe two episodes per year, so when a new one drops it’s an event. Plus, I can take my time with Dan’s shows and not feel like I’m behind.

But what stands out to me about Hardcore History is the amount of research and production put into each episode. And I think that’s why I’ve listened to the show for so long. I’m hungry for knowledge and not opinion. Dan uses lots of primary and academic resources to build his shows. If I had to pick just one podcast to listen to, it would be Hardcore History.

Over time I’ve transitioned from podcasts to audiobooks. I prefer to listen to well-researched stories and topics instead of constant chatter. Audible is the defacto audiobook app but it can be expensive at $15 per month. This isn’t a bad price if you consistently listen to books. To buy a similar audiobook would be $25 to $50 per book. So Audible is a decent deal but it’s not the best.

I spend more time at my local library than I used to. My kids love picking out new books weekly and there’s a massive selection to choose from. A few months ago while we were browsing for books, I wandered around to find something for myself. I stumbled upon the audiobook section and found a massive selection of titles. I checked out The Splendid and the Vile, which is a book about Winston Churchill’s first year as British Prime Minister. 

If you’ve read my articles for a while then you know that I’m a massive iPod Classic fan. I ripped the 15 CDs onto my computer and uploaded the tracks to my iPod. I started listening to my new audiobook and I was hooked. Not necessarily because of the story, which was fantastic, but of how I was consuming the media. The iPod is perfect for listening to audiobooks. There are no interruptions or notifications that take away from the story. Pausing is easy because you can set each track to remember your place in the file configuration.

The best part was that the audiobook only cost me whatever I paid in local taxes to support my library system. I’ve since finished The Splendid and the Vile and Atomic Habits by James Clear. I cruised through these two books within six weeks just by listening while I drove around. This realization gave me pause because I could have listened to so many more books over the years instead of podcasts. 

All of this is to say that there are amazing options available to you if you’re tired of podcasts. What’s more, you can listen to audiobooks for the same price that you pay for podcasts, which is nothing. Granted, ripping CDs and uploading the tracks to an iPod is very 2009 but it’s an intentional process that I know helps me make wiser media selections that I stick with.

I hope this post encourages you to select media that enriches your life versus merely entertains you. And if you have any good audiobook selections, please share them with me in the comment section.

As always, I appreciate your reading.