Who knew?

I love all things tech-dorkiful, but I was really slow on the ball finding out that Air America has not just one, but two podcasts out there -- and I'm a podcaster. Plus, considering how many of you are still saying "what's a podcast," I thought this was worth posting. This is especially handy for those of you who get better digital bandwidth than you do AM reception -- and/or for those of you who would rather go to bed at 5am than get up at 5am (to hear Rachel Maddow).

A few other shows used to be syndicated online as podcasts through secondary hosts, but those links seem to have died. For now, the two shows right up front about podcasting on their Air America show pages are the Rachel Maddow Show and Morning Sedition. Another website, The White Rose Society, apparently records the webstream of the Mike Malloy and Randi Rhodes shows (among others) and turns them into podcast feeds.

For those of you who can figure out subscribing to podcasts on your own, the two "official" AAR feeds are right here:
http://podcastingcouch.com/air_america/podcast_feeds/The_Rachel_Maddow_Show.xml
http://podcastingcouch.com/air_america/podcast_feeds/Morning_Sedition.xml
Just copy those into your podcatcher client - although apparently you need a client that supports BitTorrent. I know iPodderX does so for Mac; iPodder for Windows claims to as well.

For those of you still wondering what the heck I'm talking about, podcasting is like TiVo meets internet radio. For example, Rachel Maddow comes on at 7am, right about when I'm getting the best sleep possible. While she's broadcasting, her engineer is recording, and about an hour after she's done, there's an MP3 file of her show on the net somewhere. I told iPodderX I want to "subscribe" to her show by pasting that .xml link into it, and every morning iPodderX automatically checks Rachel's website to see if there's a new show, while I snooze. At 9:30, I undock my iPod and jump on my bike with some pre-recorded Air America just waiting to be heard on my way to work, on my schedule. (You don't need an iPod -- any MP3 device will do for portability -- and you don't even need an MP3 player, it'll be there on your computer to play when you want.)

And just to plug the Maddow Show, if you haven't heard it (and whether you want to listen on air or on "pod"), this is a great way to kick off your morning. She really uncovers some aspects of the news you probably haven't heard of yet, and often before they hit the blogosphere. She's smart, funny, and angry about the Right in a way that doesn't sound like screeching even to a moderate like myself. By the time I finish my coffee, Rachel's got me ready to challenge even the wittiest conservative. So what are you waiting for? Go download iPodder for Windows or iPodderX for Mac, enter those .xml links, and start clearing the air!