Posted on February 2nd, 2023.

Podcasts are more popular now than ever.

Thousands of quality top podcasts are regularly being recorded that either inform or entertain their audiences, and they can all be listened to in any type of environment you could think of. Learn six big reasons podcasts make great additions to your life.

1. They’re free entertainment

Podcasts are by and large offered for free. Audiobooks can be purchased for about $15 apiece, usually delivering somewhere between eight and twenty hours worth of listening.

Meanwhile, even though you can get hundreds of hours of entertainment out of programs like Fresh Air or The Nerdist, you don’t have to pay a cent for podcasts. You can contribute to Patreon crowdfunding campaigns if you want to support the shows you particularly enjoy, but you almost always have the option to listen to podcasts for free.

2. You can listen to them anywhere

You probably can’t watch a TV show while you’re biking. Nor can you play a video game as you’re looking at groceries. A listening device and some earbuds, though, can follow you anywhere.

Whether you’re in your home, on a walk, in your car, at a store or at any number of other places, it’s easy as can be to put in your headphones and listen to the latest episodes of your favorite podcast.

3. You’ll get less bored with your music library

Even the largest libraries of music on MP3 players and smartphones can get tired. Listening to podcasts give you a breather from music. By taking a break from your tunes, you can be excited about them all over again when you return to them.

4. They’re usually conversations instead of stories

Unlike audiobooks, in which an author narrates a story, podcast episodes generally consist of conversations between two or more individuals. That back-and-forth has a lot of advantages over the typical one-person narration found in books on tape.

A conversation often feels more natural then someone telling you a story. You get to hear people bounce off each other and build off of what the others said. A podcast isn’t as structured as a book, so it has more opportunities for interesting tangents and divergences that make the listening more unpredictable.

Perhaps best of all, you’re able to tune in and out of a podcast. Whereas with an audiobook you can easily become lost if you lose your focus even for a minute, a podcast episode gives you a lot of chances to jump back into the fold. That leads to my next point.

5. They’re perfect for mindless chores

There are a number of tasks that don’t require a lot of brain power, such as driving to work and cleaning the house. Podcasts are a great way to help pass the time, letting you immerse yourself in an enlightening conversation over the airwaves even though in real life you’re scrubbing toilets or washing sinks.

6. You can learn about a subject, an industry, etc.

Podcasts aren’t only good entertainment, but also great education. The time you’d normally spend doing those mindless chores or exercising can be used to help you prepare for the next phase of your career.

There are a ton of shows out there that teach you about specific fields of study and career paths. For example, the productivity and technology-focused podcasts Supercharged and Back to Work, both on the 5by5 network, would probably be of interest to many people reading this; nearly every subject you can think of is well-covered.

Whether you want to learn about the entertainment industry, applied sciences, theme parks or any number of other things, there’s a podcast out there to teach you.

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