Nontrivial Exercises

My Favorite Mac Podcasts - Part 1

The Mac users and Mac fans who form the vibrant, passionate and generally happy Mac Community seem to love to talk about their Macs. As I have experienced firsthand, there’s a lot to love to talk about. I want to share my favorite Mac-related podcasts because one of the best ways to learn is to learn from others’ experiences.

I actually started listening to a bunch of Mac podcasts early this year, trying to learn as much as I could about it before I actually was able to buy one. If you don’t yet have a Mac and are thinking about switching, I think one of the best things you can do to prepare yourself to use a Mac if you haven’t before - or to find out that you may not want to switch yet - is to listen to tips, tricks, ideas, complaints and success stories from current Mac users.

So, here we go with my favorites and the programs that have really helped me - and continue to help me - learn more about and get more out of my Mac.

Mac OS Ken. One of the sharpest wits in the proverbial Mac news podcasting opinion making taking sharing world, Ken Ray produces a daily (if the day is Monday through Friday) show about what’s going on with Apple. Ken takes his podcasting very seriously and actually has created 2 shows that consisted of apologies for the 2 times he has not put out a full daily show. Two times out of more than 100 Monday through Friday days - pretty impressive! The audio is high quality, the info is fresh (he must stay up very late each night putting the show together) and the back-and-forth banter between Ken and, well, himself, is the best way to start your Mac news day. It’s the first podcast I listen to every day!

This Week in Tech (TWiT). Maybe the best-known tech podcast out there, and certainly the best-produced, Leo Laporte and a host of other regulars convene most every week to talk about all things computer and technology related. While TWiT doesn’t focus exclusively on Apple, the Mac-Maker is making news a lot these days and there’s plenty to discuss. A must-listen for anyone using a computer, or a keyboard, or a mouse, or near a Starbucks.

MacBreak Video. A high quality (usually 1080p) video production that comes out about twice a month focused on actually showing you how to do cool stuff on your Mac. MacBreak is part of the growing TWiT media conglomerate (OK, there’s 10 shows that Leo and company put on, but they do them so well and cover so much of the technology space that it seems like they’re everywhere) and like all the other TWiT shows, it’s very well done. The show usually features a guest in the studio to demonstrate a particular application or function you can perform on your Mac to make your life so much better. Again, there’s nothing like seeing someone do something and hearing them talk about it to learn how to do it yourself.

The MacCast. A show “For Mac Geeks By Mac Geeks”, host Adam Christianson always has a lot to say about his favorite computing platform, and he’s a wealth of technical knowledge and experience. I really enjoy his friendly demeanor and great attitude, and I always learn something from him. He’s also quite prolific and consistent, averaging two one-hour shows a week. At the end of each podcast, Adam always features music from a new artist - always legally of course - as a nice way to balance out the geeky technical discussion.

The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab. Dave Hamilton, the co-founder and current CEO of the Mac Observer, together with long-time friend and fellow Mac Observer contributor John Braun bring perhaps the most technically complete discussion of the Mac each week (sometimes more often). Both Dave and John have an incredible amount of technical knowledge of the Mac, Apple OS-es and even Windows so that they can apply some info in context for those used to the Windows way of doing things. The thing I love about this show is how open Dave and John are to taking questions and addressing them on the show. They seem to thrive on helping people out of their technical dilemmas and it’s fun to hear.

So that’s part 1 of my favorite Mac-related podcasts - the shows that have made a huge difference in the way I use my Mac. For now, thank you Ken, Leo & friends, Leo & friends again but especially Alex Lindsay, Adam, Dave and John - I love listening to you all.

More of my favorites to come.