How to start listening to Podcasts!

If you know me in real life, or online… you know I am a huge fan of Podcasts. I’ve been listening to them for a couple of years now, and am always astounded by the amount of people who look at me like they have no idea what I’m talking about when I bring them up!

Podcasts have enchanced my reading life immensely, and I am always passing on great episodes that I have listened to on my Instagram stories @readingontherun. I love to hear an author’s insight to why they wrote a book, or listen to people discuss a recent book I’ve read as well. It feels almost like an online book club!

The many ways they have affected my daily living like I said before is getting book recommendations, learning, feeling a sense of community (online), and making the tasks of daily living just fly by as I listen to an episode. Being currently on maternity leave, I find listening to certain Podcasts make me feel like I’m not so alone in my thoughts or space when I can relate to the topic of conversation.

What is a Podcast??

A Podcast is a digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to your computer, or mobile device. There are a huge magnitude of categories and topics that are covered. And typically they are a series, featuring new installments which can be received automatically by subscribers.

How to get started??

So…. First off, the first questions I always get about Podcasts is, “how do I get them?” All you have to do is download a Podcast app! I just listen to the Apple Podcast app, but I know that there are many other apps to tune in on. Examples of a few are, SoundCloud, PodcastOne, Stitcher, and Overcast.  Once you have downloaded an app, the possibilities are endless!

Here are a couple ways to find Podcasts that you are interested:

• Scroll through the Top Charts (in the menu at the bottom of the screen) . Read through the descriptions of each Podcast, and maybe download a couple that you think you may be in to.
• If you are in Top Charts or Featured section of the menu, you will also see a Categories button that you can click on in your left hand top corner. Once you click on it, check out all the different categories!!! So exciting, because within the categories there are subcategories!
• Try just searching a topic that interests you. Sometimes after I’ve finished a novel, I just search the novel, and see if there are any podcasts that have discussions on it.
• Lastly, when you start listening to Podcasts you will learn about more!
• One important note: If you like a couple of the Podcast episodes, maybe you want to subscribe. Just hit the subscribe button and you get the Podcasts uploading as they are putting out a new episode. Just make sure you download them when you are connected to wifi to save data.

If you check out my Podcasts I’m Loving page, I have left you a TON of Podcasts that I adore. Because I have a multitude of interests the topics that they are covering range widely, but they are all really enjoyable and I never get sick of listening to them!

Anywho, let me know if you are a fan of Podcasts as well, and which ones you listen to!

Happy reading (and listening), bookish friends!