Why do buzzy professionals listen to podcasts ?

I asked Patrick Wong, a 39 years young senior design engineer who works for ASML in Veldhoven that question.

(This is a long blogpost - want to print this immediately, click here.) 

• How many podcasts do you subscribe to and what kind of podcasts are they (topics) ?

I am currently subscribed to about 25 podcasts. I listen mostly to science and news background podcast. Practical advantage of these is that they are pure audio (no video) so I can listen to them in the car. All in all this means I listen regularly to about half of the 25 podcasts I am subscribed to. These can be divided into a number of categories like software tips and tricks, Apple related, National Geographic, photography, news and background or science related...

• What are the major advantages you experience with podcasting ?

You can listen to them when you like and you don't have to hear the same news 5 times a day or you can listen to something again if you want to... for example when someone mentions an interesting book in a Podcast and you didn't have the time to write down the details when you were listening to it the first time. By downloading podcasts you can archive them for future reference, you can share/forward interesting episodes to others or even link to them on your own website.

For me they are also a kind of short highlights on certain topics (e.g. what's new in science or what goes on in the US according to Katie Couric) : an efficient way to stay up to speed on what goes on in a certain area of interest. Focussing on special subjects can also function as a knowledge repository or as tutorials, in my case How To's in Photoshop.

On the "user side" it is very convenient that you can enjoy features like automatic download from iTunes, automatic sync with iPod... All in all very convenient to use and most of them are free of charge.

Other advantages are that you can listen to podcasts while you are on the road to spend such time more efficiently. There are no geographic boundaries like with TV and you can subscribe to Podcasts from everywhere. Finally, audio can be combined with other content like video or text for for example language courses...

• When do you listen to your podcasts ? How much time do they take (in average) ?

I mostly listen in my car on the way to or from work. Some are short (1-10 minutes), others are longer, up to 70 minutes. On average they are approximately half an hour long. Adding them all up on a weekly basis (some are daily podcasts, others weekly) I end up with about 50 minutes of listening material a day.

• Do you sometimes react (by posting a blog comment, ending an email) to a podcast ?

I don't regularly react to Podcasts. It is a bit as with print articles where I will sometimes write a reaction but this isn't a regular habit, only when I think I have something valuable to contribute will I react. Because science topics are either highly specialized or very brief I generally just don't have enough knowledge to make comments about the subject matter. Sometimes I will forward a link of a Podcast to someone I think will find it interesting (e.g. I just listened to one in which they talk about the presumed impact of salt on high blood pressure, something we have been talking about at work) or it can be that I link one on my website.

• On what device do you listen to your podcasts (MP3 player, portable PC/Mac, PSP, car radio etc...)

I simply connect my iPod to the car radio. The ones with video I watch on my Mac but very irregularly due to a lack of time really. Occassionally I will listen to my iPod connected to the stereo. This can be convenient if I want to listen to something together with someone else.

Some of Patrick's favorite podcasts:

• Software tips and tricks : About Filemaker, Photoshop, Photoshop Lightroom and Final Cut
• Apple related : Macworld, Apple Gazette, Inside Mac
• National Geographic : best of, video shorts, NG World talk, Wild Chronicles
• Photography : tips and tricks, Magnum Stories
• News and background : Klara Rondas, Wetstraat watcher, Eye to Eye with Katie Couric, UChannel Podcast
• Science related : Sciam Podcast, Nature Podcast, New Scientist Podcast and Science Magazine Podcast