Just as I recommended some essential RSS feeds that should be in your newsreader, let me now suggest some podcasts that I have been enjoying. (If you don’t know what software to use to try these podcasts out, I would start with the free iTunes. Select “Subscribe to Podcast…” from the “Advanced” menu and paste a feed URL from below).

First off is my favorite of these, the Mises podcast (feed). I’m not saying this because of the connection between LRC and the Mises Institute or anything like that. I’m saying this because the Mises podcast is OUTSTANDING. The speeches and lectures available through the podcast are consistently informative and challenging.

Also my absolute favorite is Cinecast (feed). This may be a generational thing since I would say the perspective of co-hosts Adam and Sam is definitely that of two guys in their 30s. But when I heard that one of their fans refers to it as Cinecrack I completely understood. Whatever it is that I liked about Siskel and Ebert is here times 100. Now if I could just talk them into doing a “Top 5 Libertarian Films”.

And my other absolutely top favorite is Scott Horton’s Weekend Interview Show (feed) which has a solidly libertarian antiwar focus with appearances by LRC favorites like Karen Kwiatkowski, Laurence Vance, Anthony Gregory, Jacob Hornberger, Lew Rockwell himself and so many more. This is what NPR would be like if it, well, wasn’t NPR. Don’t miss the interview with Loretta Napoleoni or the interview with Robert Pape.

Rocketboom (Quicktime feed, other formats) is actually a video podcast. Short 3 to 5 minute shows Monday through Friday. I’m not sure how to summarize this one except that it is more interesting than Amanda Congdon sitting at a desk talking about the latest geek oriented news. This one is a favorite of my one year old, (she calls it “birdie” and insisted we play it several times a day for a while). This one shows that no matter how fancy your Christmas lights are this year, you’ve already been topped. This strange one is about Amanda’s relationship with a blue ball.

Finally, a few music podcasts that I’ve been enjoying. In the Hands (feed) features classical solo piano. No Idle Frets (feed) features jazz guitar. And from Italy is a show just for the “queen of instruments” the Lutecast (feed) featuring beautiful, peaceful Renaissance Lute music.

The Best of Stephen W. Carson