Ask HN: Favorite podcasts?

I had the same feeling, I couldn't stand the voice fry. I heard the episode you linked to and felt like a jerk, but I still can't get myself to listen to Invisibilia. The content of the episodes I heard were interesting though.

I'm not as familiar with dev/design podcasts but I'll mention some that I've heard good things about; I think it would make a great Product Hunt board. More generally I think podcast discovery is a huge problem b/c 1.) most of us aren't aware of the good shows that exist, 2.) there's no easy way to share the best episodes, so we don't know which ones they are, and 3.) as listeners our interests are incredibly varied so subjective relevance is almost as important as quality. I'm going to share a list of shows that I've personally enjoyed or seem interesting. I'm also going to share some of my favorite episodes, because what's even more hard to identify than a good show are the very best episodes!

#Full disclosure, I'm creating a social platform for discovering and sharing podcasts: http://www.knomad.com/

#Side plug, https://www.audiosear.ch/ is doing some cool things with podcast discovery and exposes searches against digitally transcribed audio from podcasts

------------------------------- [1. Dev / Design Podcasts] -------------------------------

• Iterate | http://apple.co/1MEM8AR

• Giant Robots | http://apple.co/1HVdlOQ

• Isomertric | http://apple.co/1CkElXN

• Programming Throwdown | http://apple.co/1AL7PIJ

• 99% Invisible | http://apple.co/1GdqFAX

--------------------------- [2. General Podcasts I Recommend ] ---------------------------

--Tech News / Startups--

• This Week in Startups | http://thisweekinstartups.com | Amazing interviews. Great tech news insight. Fast paced. Highly recommend.

• How To Start a Startup | http://startupclass.samaltman.com/ | Course taught at Stanford organized by Sam Altman; some of the best distilled startup advice and insight.

• a16z | https://soundcloud.com/a16z | Lots of very smart people having candid discussions about interesting tech topics.

• Stanford ETL | http://apple.co/1uROaKz | Quality of speakers and topics very, but there's a wealth of great insight and stories here from founders to VCs and other interesting figures. The candid Q&A is also good.

• Accidental Tech Podcast | http://atp.fm/ | Marco Arment (co-founder of Tumblr) and co-hosts Casey Liss and John Siracusa discuss tech news, Apple, podcasts, and more.

• Product Hunt | http://apple.co/1FqZlwI | Ryan Hoover and Erik Torenburg interview founders and insiders, typically assoicated with the hottest new products (eg Meerkat right now)

• From Scratch | http://www.fromscratchradio.org/show/ | Jessica Harris interviews founders and surfaces great stories you likely haven't heard in a very NPR-esque manner.

• The Jay and Farhad Show | https://soundcloud.com/jay-yarow | Farhad is one of the best tech journalists out there and they are both great to listen to.

• MVP | http://mvptheshow.com/ | Ryan Block (@ryan), former editor-in-cheif at Engagdet and Peter Rojas, co-founder of Engadget and Gizmodo, discuss tech news. Both are very smart.

• The Tim Ferriss Show | http://apple.co/QG5aka | Life hacking, startups, health, cooking, goal settings, etc. If you don't know who Tim is, google him - he's an interesting guy.

• The Talk Show w/ John Gruber | http://www.muleradio.net/thetalkshow/ | Associated with Daring Fireball.

--Comedy / Entertainment--

• Girl on Guy | http://girlonguy.net/ | Comedian and actress Aisha Tyler (Lana on Archer) interviews actors and comedians. Very funny, very interesting.

• WTF with Marc Maron | http://www.wtfpod.com/ | Marc is pretty funny and he brings on lots of amazing and hilarious guests.

• The Bugle | http://thebuglepodcast.com/ | John Oliver delivering fake news. It's perfect.

• Harmontown | http://apple.co/1BnY0R1 | Dan Harmon (community, rick & morty) and co-hosts do live shows in LA and feature amazing guests. Usually very funny.

• Indoor Kids | http://apple.co/1Auu6vg| Kumail Nanjiani (comedian on HBO's Silicon Valley) talks video games and shoots the shit. He's hilarious.

• Cracked | http://apple.co/1ALKJBT | Cohosts Jack O'Brien and Michael Swaim analyze movies, tv shows, and pop culture. Usually very funny.

• Smartest Guy in the Room | http://apple.co/1xrlF2s | Greg Proops.

• Nerdist | http://apple.co/1h68I6j | Chris Hardwick and co-hosts. Best episodes are defined by his guests.

--Science / Space--

• Radiolab | http://www.radiolab.org/ | Basically This American Life with fascinating scientific insights baked into about 90% of the stories. It's my favorite podcast.

• StarTalk Radio | http://www.startalkradio.net/ | Neil deGrasse Tyson (need I say more?) and comedian co-host Eugene Mirman discuss space and science with a stellar line up of guests. Informative and funny.

• Inquiring Minds | https://soundcloud.com/inquiringminds | Focuses on the intersection of science, society, and politics.

• Invisibilia | http://apple.co/1MF54zm | Spin off from Radiolab focusing on the invisible forces that control human behavior – ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions. Merges scientific research and storytelling.

--Other--

• UpVoted by Reddit | http://apple.co/15PutIP | Alexis Ohanian interviews people associated with some of the most amazing stories from Reddit

• The Daily Show without Jon Stewart | http://apple.co/1zi10mV | Behind the scenes conversations with the writers, producers, and correspondents. Funny stories and insight into how the show is made.

• Hardcore History | http://apple.co/1zz1dgL | Very long podcasts dedicated to in depth coverage of historical periods. Sam Harris loves it. Very highly regarded.

• Savage Lovecast | http://apple.co/1uapNF9 | Dan Savage reads anonymous questions from listeners and offers sex and relationship advice. Very informative and entertaining.

• Real Time with Bill Maher | http://apple.co/1pHRinG | Audio version of the HBO show. Comedy, politics, interviews, and panel discussions.

• StartUp | http://apple.co/1K5YDt9 | Alex Blumberg creates a podcast about creating a podcast company.

• Planet Money | http://apple.co/1bbrIDO | NPR; some of the best radio reporting on financial issues. They made 30min on the European debt crisis INTERESTING. wow.

• This American Life | http://apple.co/1K5XCRI | One of the very best podcasts in existence. Various stories from American life. Can only listen to the most recent ep in most podcast apps.

• Serial | http://serialpodcast.org/ | If you haven't heard of this, welcome back to the internet ;). Amazing 12 episode story about a real murder in the 90s.

• Freakonomics | http://apple.co/1fldET0 | Authors of freakonomics explore similar issues. Interesting, insightful, and informative.

• Criminal | http://apple.co/1fmyL7k | Stories of people who've done wrong, been wronged, and/or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Great replacement for Serial while waiting for season 2.

• Radio Free Burrito | http://apple.co/19qR5RA | Wil Wheaton presents an infrequently-updated podcast with music, stories, and other things which he finds ... interesting.

• FINAL LEVEL | http://apple.co/1zXuTDQ | ICE T has a podcast.

------------------------------ [3. Episodes I recommend ] -------------------------------

• Radiolab | What's Up Doc | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=i8Sgvfo3n9

• Radiolab | Juicervose | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=nPgwIKZbpY

• StarTalk Radio | Big Brains at BAM (Live event w/ Mayim Bialik of The Big Bang Theory, Bill Nye , Paul Rudd, +others) | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=9ciLDi6Ng1

• StarTalk Radio | Evolution with Richard Dawkins | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=AlfRdLw0k1

• Girl on Guy | Ryan Stiles (Improv legend from Who's Line) | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=oE6px2jKb5

• This Week in Startups | Josh Elman (Twitter and user acquistion) | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=pcwSWJRbOu

• This Week in Startups | Austin Heinz (laser printing DNA) | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=5svl1R35Me

• Stanford ETL | Salman Khan (of Khan Acamedy) | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=CSE0IUhzL4

• NPR Fresh Air | Larry David (of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm) | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=cgnxA5WCYV

• Product Hunt | Ben Rubin (co-founder of Meerkat) | http://www.knomad.com/episodes/?=WqYFTgqjEW

An interesting concept but an uninspiring execution.

Who are all those people in the catalog? There is no filtering by profession, interest, etc. Every picture has only a name label. Very helpful if you have no idea (or you're not sure) who the person is.

A test search 'joel spolsky' (a celebrity that must be there) gave me this:

  No matches for 'joel spolsky'

okay.

The Memory Palace is so good. I wish Nate DiMeo had more time to produce it. I love how Roman Mars from 99% Invisible ripped off Nate's intro.

I listen to a few every time there's a new episode:

* Free Beer & Hot Wings -- this is actually a radio show, but I've been listening since I was in high school and I'm a huge fan or their humor: http://www.freebeerandhotwings.com/

* Upvoted by reddit -- Alexis Ohanian takes a reddit comment or post, and turns it into a long-form podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/upvoted-by-reddit/id9541...

* Men In Blazers -- two soccer guys talking about soccer: http://meninblazers.com/podcasts

* Wait Wait Don't Tell Me -- humorous review of the news from NPR: http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/