I started culling my podcast herd as the redundancy and political whining was reaching a point where I felt like I was wasting time. I have started picking up the audiobooks of physical/e-books that I read, so I can squeeze in some chapters while driving but not replacing the actual books. When I started deleting podcasts, it became apparent that Mac Power Users and Mac Geek Gab are unique as they focus on apps, what to do with them, and workflows, tips, tricks, with a light dusting of news, etc. Anyone else feel overloaded with podcasts? Do you ever weed them out?
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Iāve listened to several tech podcasts that I enjoy, but some have started adding political commentaryāsometimes implicitly, sometimes explicitly. I prefer tech podcasts without political commentary from either side of the aisle. Iāve unsubscribed from those podcasts. There are already plenty of outlets for thatāarguably too many.
Iāve cut back on tech podcasts, dropped productivity podcasts entirely, and added others on different topics.
MPU is a must listen for me. 
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100% agreed.
I need the podcast episode to be about something, and then I can decide if that something is worth it to me. Many tech podcasts now are just segments of tech news updates (rarely important or useful) or 2 hours of unedited airing of opinions tangentially related to tech. Itās like sports talk radio for people who donāt like sports. I never liked sports talk radio, so Iām not surprised Iāve soured on many podcasts. The political scolding is bad enough, but even on the tech stuff the level of informed does not match the level of volume on most opinions.
MPU (and Focused) are ones I check every week to see if itās worthwhile for me, and often it is. Most of the other tech podcasts have fallen off at this point and been replaced with audiobooks.
That turned into a rant, which wasnāt my goal. My goal was to say that I agree with you on the unusual value of MPU.
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MPU is good, I also listen to ATP and upgrade as Tech Podcasts
For tech adjacent I love Cortex and Thoroughly considered
I listen to a few football and TV podcasts, plus With Me Now (a parkrun podcast)
The Rest is History, 99PI, Desert Island Discs, Cautionary Tales, and the Incomparable are non urgent podcasts I get to if my main podcasts run out.
I also pick and choose on the Omni podcast and Song Exploder if thereās anything I want to listen to.
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All the time. I have two podcasts, MPU and one other, that I started listening to around 2011? I keep changing the other podcasts on my list.
The first podcast I remember listening to was Buzz Out Loud around 2005. Anyone else remember that one?
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I listen to four tech podcasts:
- Mac Power Users, probably since the first year.
- Mac Geek Gab, since Adam Christianson stopped The MacCast and Iām a fan of his podcasting.
- Mac OS Ken, for daily news. Unusual in that it is scripted.
- MacBreak Weekly, since it started, for the banter. I donāt rely on any recommendations from Leo Laporte, but his broadcasting background gives it a professional feel.
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Anyone else feel overloaded with podcasts? Do you ever weed them out?
I never listened any of them, including MPU, but I was overloaded by reading interviews, blogs and forums many years ago. Then I intuitively came to the conclusions that I later re-discovered in āThe Shallowsā by Nicholas Carr.
I used to listen to quite a few. Macbreak Weekly, The Tech Guy, Security Now, MPU, Upgrade, Connected to name a few tech podcasts. Also several regarding US National Parks. Now, I donāt listen to tech podcast at all. Once in a while I will listen to NP podcasts.
I have a guilty secretā¦ I donāt listen to MPU. 
I do occasionally, when specific guests are on, but it fell out of my rotation some years ago now. I hang around here, though, because of all of you.
My tech podcasts have been very few for the last few years, mostly due to time constraints andā¦ hold the pressesā¦ non-tech podcasts.
I saw a comment online somewhere recently to the effect of āI remember when podcasts used to be made by passionate individuals and not just large corporations re-hashing existing content.ā I donāt think this person knows what podcasts are. Theyāre everywhere; and on everything.
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Iāve subscribed to MPU and MGG for as long as I can remember and they are definitely absolutes in my ever changing podcast playlist. But while their politics arenāt explicit, they also are not hard to figure out. Of course, if you listen to someone talk for so long, you can figure out a lot about them. Nevertheless, itās certainly not enough to be distracting. Both of these podcasts find a great spot between scripted and spontaneous with hosts that sound neither like talking heads nor āman in the street.ā I wish there were more in the tech world (maybe there are, I just havenāt found them) that have that balance. Nothing turns me off from a podcast faster than the entirely off-the-cuff sound of, ājust a bunch of guys hanging out, talking about stuff!ā Yecchhh. I can get that at the bar. There are a couple in this thread that Iām going to have to check out now.
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As someone in full-time ministry (and I guess other āprofessionsā are like this), I heard many say it but couldnāt understand until I felt itā¦ but the ministry is lonely. For that reason, I say half-joking but half-seriously, podcasts and Logos Bible Software are some of my best friends. I enjoy spending time with them, listening to them, and as an introvert Iām fine with them doing all the talking.
I subscribe to over 100 podcasts, many of them short 5 minutes or less blips, and most I have listened to for a while, some a long long while. I clear maybe half of them if the topic isnt interesting, but I like having them there to at least read the description and decide. I read terribly slow, but I can listen to most talk podcasts around 1.75ā2x and some slow-speaking pastor sermons at 2ā3x.
My playlists in Overcast are Headlines, News, Productivity, Religion, Sermons, Talk, Technology and Deuteronormal (a word I made up that means basically supernatural but without the sensational connotationsāthink theologian Mike Heiser).
In the tech world, it seems like Iām not alone in some tech podcast feeling the need to comment so much on political things. It isnt so much that things went the way I wanted and they donāt like it, it is more I really donāt care that much. If I wanted to hear Kamala bashed I would have listened to newsmax and if I wanted to hear trump bashed I would listen to NPR. I wanted to hear rumors about the M4 Max having UltraFusion or similar mind-numbing banter to calm my stressful days. But I still listen, especially for the host that seems to be super knowledgable on very minute details of tech that I donāt know but love to hear about.
Advent of Computing is a history podcast I love because of the little known stories that I see as woven together so that computers could be what they are today.
Computer Freaks should be having a new season soon I think. Sorta similar.
Computer History Museum just released a new podcast that appears to be audio from their YouTube channel. I love listening to those on Youtube but they are so long I never get to finish. Being in podcast form should be great so that I can turn up the speed and listen in the vehicle.
Connected and Upgrade and MPU. no comment needed. love all three.
Floppy Days Vintage Computing, again for the history.
Stripped the RSS feed from the internet archive for The Computer Cafe. That was before my time but man those are cool to listen to.
Mac Folklore radio. Again, for the history.
Mac Geek Gab, because I like to hear tech podcast actually talk about what happens when you press command and option together and do this or that, all the nerdy stuff.
Retro Computing Roundtable. listen ever so often which means little since it doenst get updated much.
RetroMacCast, love it too. like listening to two men at Hardees eating a biscuit and talking about the good ol days.
Secrets of Technology. listen to maybe half of the show for half of those updated. usually has some interesting segments.
Those are mine.
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I had to quit listening to these retro podcasts long agoā¦ I found myself browsing eBay after every episode. I have no room nowā¦
Thanks for the Mac Geek Gab recommendation, might give it a try. I need to cull my podcast list, I have so many that I just donāt listen to.
I have a very diverse Podcast list, that has content from Tech, F1/Racing/Cars, Aviation, Rail, Science/History and a few TV ones from time to time.
Having been introduced to Podcasts through Macbreak Weekly, This Week in Tech and Buzz out Loud, itās been a long journey for me. And Iām also finding my appetite for Tech content is reducing, I still have some work to remove quite a bit of duplication from my playlist.
As someone who was born in the UK, is Australian and travels quite a bit, Iām always on the lookout for non US centric content.
Podcasts that I love right now (not an exhaustive list at all)
MPU - because how could one not love it
ATP - Itās all about the banter
Airplane Geeks Podcast - Love the team, great insights, especially recently
Cautionary Tails with Tim Hartford
Connected - Great international vibe and positive narrative
If Youāre Listening - Awesome political analysis show from Australiaās ABC
The Infinite Monkey Cage - Love it
More or Less - BBC content science, still free but on delayed release
The Rest is History - Love this for getting me to sleep and for great insights also
Smith and Sniff - If youāve loved Top Gear or Fifth Gear, this is for you
The Spy Who - great spy stories from Wonder
Upgrade - good staple
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My favorite is Cult of Mac, mainly because I find the hosts to be funny and engaging. Aside from that one, Iām with you - the only other two I still keep subscribed to is MPU and Mac Geek Gab. The latter is packed with useful tips (which is their goal). I used to listen to Gruberās but he has become quite irritating and unlikeable for all kinds of reasons to me. The only thing I find interesting coming from him is his weekly NFL gambling bets that he posts. If you want to make money gambling, just watch for his NFL picks and bet the exact opposite.
Iāve never listened to Mac Geek Gab, but based on your recommendation and that of others, Iām going to give it a listen.
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Completely agree. These were the first two podcasts I ever listened to that were Mac related, and wonāt move out of my rotation.