[jwi]

On the subject (kind of) anyone know of any good podcasts for learning French? I had the Duolingo app, but I've done it to death now.

Unfortunately no, but I used to listen to the daily emission "Journal en Français facile" on RFI to improve my aural comprehension. I just checked, and frankly, there is very little difference to a regular newscast, the news might be a little more international (so the context is likely more known to listeners from abroad) and they might speak 10% slower than on regular radio... so I don't know if I can recommend it... sorry...

[edit]this was written before the reply above [/edit]

[Wil]

Spotify is less than useless for french & swedish podcasts. I rather not download one app for BBC, one for France Inter, one for NPR and one for Swedish Public Radio — and the web interfaces are really frustrating.

Podcast-specific apps will be able to access anything in the Apple Podcasts library. BBC Sounds has some extra things and you won't get those anywhere else (but most BBC content is still in every other app). Spotify doesn't cover the whole podcast ecosystem so there will be shows missing.

There are a lot of apps to choose from. I use Castbox, it has a free tier with some ads but is pretty good to use. You can stream/download as you wish. Podcast Addict, Pocketcasts and Stitcher are all popular too, there's not much difference between them on the free tier in my experience.

[sdm]

There are a lot of apps to choose from. I use Castbox, it has a free tier with some ads but is pretty good to use. You can stream/download as you wish. Podcast Addict, Pocketcasts and Stitcher are all popular too, there's not much difference between them on the free tier in my experience.

I use the free version of Podcast Addict but I'm not that impressed with it and have been meaning to find an alternative.

The app regularly stops playing and/or shuts down for no reason (on a pixel 3 with nothing else running so shouldn't be a lack of memory or processing power). It does this occasionally of its own accord but also does it very frequently if you press the skip 30 seconds button. Something that I often use to skip adverts when listening to commercial radio shows.

[Wil]

A nice twist at the end of The Missing Cryptoqueen involving Shark. Well I never. All those trips to Uganda must have eaten into his Oak training time.

[Will Hunt]

There are a lot of apps to choose from. I use Castbox, it has a free tier with some ads but is pretty good to use. You can stream/download as you wish. Podcast Addict, Pocketcasts and Stitcher are all popular too, there's not much difference between them on the free tier in my experience.

I use the free version of Podcast Addict but I'm not that impressed with it and have been meaning to find an alternative.

The app regularly stops playing and/or shuts down for no reason (on a pixel 3 with nothing else running so shouldn't be a lack of memory or processing power). It does this occasionally of its own accord but also does it very frequently if you press the skip 30 seconds button. Something that I often use to skip adverts when listening to commercial radio shows.

I had this problem with podcast addict. The fix was something in the app settings. Google will let you know. Crap app though.

[Will Hunt]

You're Dead To Me on BBC Sounds.

It's kind of a dumbed down In Our Time with a focus on historical people or peoples. They have the presenter, an expert academic, and a comedian. It's been a bit hit and miss and the few of the episodes were a bit so so. I was quite psyched for the Joan of Arc one because I know absolutely nothing about Joan of Arc. It was decent, but I felt like the comedian kept butting in to impose modern values and standards of gender equality onto the people of the 1400s, which just seemed like pointless virtue signalling.

However, the one about the Aztecs, who again I know nothing about, was fascinating and I'd love to know more. One part progressive, collaborative society; one part bloodthirsty human sacrifices 

[TobyD]

A nice twist at the end of The Missing Cryptoqueen involving Shark. Well I never. All those trips to Uganda must have eaten into his Oak training time. ]

  I noticed that one as well

[tommytwotone]

Listened to the Adam Buxton podcast episode with Adam Curtis last night. Like a lot of his documentaries I feel like I need to start again, this time with a pen and paper to take notes. Really, really good though.

[tommytwotone]

Another one I'm working through at the moment, from BBC - "How Do You Cope?" with Elis James and John Robins:


https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07rq6vh/episodes/downloads


Interviews with very different people about mental health, problems with it and things they've done to try and feel better.

[Wil]

Listened to the first episode of Tim Harford's Cautionary Tales today. Excellent as always and ticks the "things I've never thought about but really should" box.

[duncan]

The Missing Cryptoqueen on BBC sounds and other places. An examination of the One Coin cult / Ponzi scheme / scam crypto-currency. Jaw dropping and sad in equal measure. 

[Will Hunt]

Dark Matter. A ghost story set at a 1930s Arctic research station. 10 x 15min episodes. On BBC Sounds.
Bleakness, pervading sense of dread: a perfect accompaniment for our times.

[highrepute]

Really enjoyed slow burn.

Just subscribed to cryptoqueen, sounds interesting.

I currently use a podcast app called Player FM, I tried a few before settling on this one. Prodcast addict seemed especially crap. However, I've always had the problem that they don't remember what I've listened to if I change phones. Anyone use one that does this? Player FM remembers my subscriptions but not what I've listened too.

[battery]

I use player FM and when I look at the list of episodes the ones I've listened to have a darker play button at the side of them. Perhaps this is not what you mean and you're looking for a 'recently played' list?

I like it although admittedly I haven't looked at many but it's a million times better than BBC sounds.

[r-man]

Dark Matter. A ghost story set at a 1930s Arctic research station. 10 x 15min episodes. On BBC Sounds.
Bleakness, pervading sense of dread: a perfect accompaniment for our times.

I enjoyed that too. Atmospheric. I actually shared the link with a friend a few days ago. He told me he listened to it up to the point where he reached Plantation car park for a night session. There was nobody around and mist was shrouding the trees. He decided not to continue listening on the walk in. 

--

Thought this was great - Tunnel 29 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b0rr
The true story of an attempt to tunnel under the Berlin Wall. Riveting stuff.

[Will Hunt]

Dark Matter. A ghost story set at a 1930s Arctic research station. 10 x 15min episodes. On BBC Sounds.
Bleakness, pervading sense of dread: a perfect accompaniment for our times.

I enjoyed that too. Atmospheric. I actually shared the link with a friend a few days ago. He told me he listened to it up to the point where he reached Plantation car park for a night session. There was nobody around and mist was shrouding the trees. He decided not to continue listening on the walk in. 
[\quote]

Yikes! I was quite trepidatious pressing play on the final episode.

If you liked Tunnel 29 you should definitely get onto The Ratline.

[TobyD]

For something festive and funny the recent episode of You're Dead to Me on BBC sounds about Victorian Christmas is good. The section about the hallucinatory Victorian Christmas cards especially so.

[Steve R]

Nice conversation between Yuval Noah Harari & Max Tegmark about big picture things:
https://soundcloud.com/futureoflife/on-consciousness-morality-effective-altruism-myth-with-yuval-noah-harari-max-tegmark
Don't let intro put you off (quite likely if you have an aversion to US accents), conversation starts at 03:10

[crzylgs]

Nice conversation between Yuval Noah Harari & Max Tegmark about big picture things:
https://soundcloud.com/futureoflife/on-consciousness-morality-effective-altruism-myth-with-yuval-noah-harari-max-tegmark
Don't let intro put you off (quite likely if you have an aversion to US accents), conversation starts at 03:10

This sounds right up my street! I've been meaning to read Yuval Noah Narari's book 'Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow' after enjoying 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind'.

[SA Chris]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07grys7

A fascinating story, already covered in the book 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CUSQOA0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Need to listen and see if the same conclusion is reach as the book.

[crzylgs]

The Dyatlov Pass incident is one of the great mysteries. I've listened to a couple podcasts that cover it over the years and read bits an pieces online and wasn't ever satisfied with any theory (Hallucinogenic beverage / Local tribe attack / avalanche / Infrasound) ... Which conclusion does that book come to?

On the subject of mysteries the disappearance of flight MH370 - Stuff You Should Know Podcast recently did a 2 parter on this and there was some evidence that seemed fairly conclusive in nailing it on the senior pilot which I hadn't heard before.

[SA Chris]

Book says Infrasound, if that's the name for noise; I read it a few years ago, so can't recall totally. Seemed plausible, but I'm not utterly convinced by it.

[Will Hunt]

Coming Up For Air is being serialised on R4 at the moment. I've always loved Orwell but the writing so far is exceptional. Well read too.

[andy popp]

Coming Up for Air is superb, my favourite Orwell.

[spidermonkey09]

I struggle to pick a favourite Orwell. Even his lesser known works like Keep The Aspidistra Flying are brilliant. I think I'd probably settle on a book of essays rather than any one novel though.