Trading Post: CDs about Food

Trading Post: CDs about Food

When I work out, I like to listen to CDs about food, like Omnivore’s Dilemma or something by Kurlansky (listening to food stories keeps me mindful of the reason I exercise). I’ve used up all the local free resources for CDs (i.e., the public library) and have started buying them.

I just bought and listened to Hidden Kitchens, a series of NPR shows about various semi-secret food zones that are set up under viaducts, in prisons, in people’s backyards. This collection is listed on ebay and Amazon if you want more information. (I’m pretty sure these gals were the satiric target of the SNL parody “The Delicious Dish,” but that said, I found these bits of audio documentation quite engaging and informative).

I want to trade this CD for another CD. I don’t want to sell it or exchange any kind of currency, and what I'm proposing is a one-to-one transaction between members of the LTH community. If you have a CD about food and would like to trade it for Hidden Kitchens, PM or email me and I’ll mail the CD to you; then, you mail your CD to me. After I listen to it, I’m going to post it here again, and so on and so on.

I have no idea if there’s any interest in this kind of online trading, but I just bought a half-dozen CDs about food, and as I finish them, I’m going to post them here, and if you want one, we can trade one of mine for one of yours.

David,

Do you have an iPod or some other similar mp3 player? The number of food-oriented, regularly updated podcasts is extraordinary.

Best,
Michael

I just received an iPod for Christmas and haven't really delved into the world of podcasts yet but I would love some good resources for food-related podcasts!

(maybe this should be another thread?)

Trade has been completed; thanks NR706.

eatchicago wrote:Do you have an iPod or some other similar mp3 player? The number of food-oriented, regularly updated podcasts is extraordinary.

Don't have an iPod...but I'd get one if I thought it would give me access to more food information.

Well, yeah, for starters you can subscribe to the Splendid Table podcast free on iTunes (which does not require an iPod, and makes it easy to burn them to CD straight from the program). That's a pretty much perfect driving-around or need-something-to-fill-10-minutes show, bite size chunks, semi-timely but not totally pointless if you don't hear the Thanksgiving show till Christmas, etc. The best part is that she pretty much has every author of every cookbook on sooner or later; those interviews are always interesting even when the rest of the show is fluff.

An iPod makes more sense for that than burning them onto CDs, though-- you're unlikely to listen more than once.

Splendid Table is my favorite.

There's also:

Eat Feed http://www.eatfeed.com/shows.htm
KCRW's Good Food http://www.kcrw.com/podcast/show/gf
NPR: Food (general short food stories) http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=1053
The Culinary Podcast Network http://www.gildedfork.com/culinarypodcastnetwork/

...and about a thousand other more specific (more amateur) podcasts ranging from local eats to beer to vegan cooking to BBQ.

These keep me going during my morning workouts.

Best,
Michael

Looks like I better buy an iPod. Thanks, guys.

Yeah, I need to buy an iPod so I can fill my every free audio moment with food talk. Looks like I can get a 4GB Nano for around $200. Any advice in that regard. Is that more than I need?

David "Very Suggestible" Hammond

You can also get a refurbished ipod nano (4gb, from the last generation, so plastic instead of aluminum) for $150 or a 30gb regular ipod for $180.

Apple Store / Refurbished iPods

The refurb apple products I've seen have always looked and acted brand new. They come with 90 day warranties, but you can get applecare for them and extend it to 2 years for $60.

Whether that $50-70 makes up for being one or one-half generation behind is up to you.

More than you need, who can say? If you want to put a few podcasts and your three or four favorite albums on it, it's plenty. If you end up ripping all 600 CDs you own onto your computer, it's puny and you'll always find yourself cursing the fact that you don't have "Plastic Surgery Disasters," only "Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death," loaded at the moment.

I would just play with one at the Apple Shrine and see if it's too damn nano for you, your large, manly fingers and your eyesight. Then if you like it, buy it, if you're going to use it in your car and still have a cassette player, buy a cassette adapter and a plug-in thingy. The best impact technology has made on my life lately is being able to play kids' audiobooks on the iPod on the way to school, so they don't fight in the back seat before Dad has had his coffee.

I bought a 2GB Nano last February to use at the gym. I've got it 3/4 full and wish I would have bought an iPod. I'm all ready considering getting one of the 80 GB iPods so I can watch video, TV, and movies at the gym.

I subscribe to a several food and travel podcasts. There are a lot of them.
I'm surprised you haven't put together a Maxwell Market tour podcast yet.

You guys have been very helpful.

Last year, I bought an Olympus 1 GB digital recorder; it works excellently for recording phone conversations, meetings, etc. Here's a link to a product description: http://tinyurl.com/33xxqg

Just for a lark, I've been trying to download some NPR food-related podcasts, and I've had no luck. Does it seem like this device should be able to accept podcasts (it supposedly takes WMA and MP3)?

I almost forgot about Frank Bruni's podcast:
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/multimedia/podcasts.html

David Hammond wrote:Does it seem like this device should be able to accept podcasts (it supposedly takes WMA and MP3)?

It looks like you can use Windows Media Player to sync files to it.

In short, in addition to being a recorder, it functions like an iPod, except that it doesn't play music purchased from the iTunes store.

You may still want an iPod, if you think it makes you , or if it's easier for you to use -- but this device allows you to move sound files (MP3 or WMA, most podcasts are MP3) from your computer to the recorder for portable playback.

germuska wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Does it seem like this device should be able to accept podcasts (it supposedly takes WMA and MP3)?

It looks like you can use Windows Media Player to sync files to it.

In short, in addition to being a recorder, it functions like an iPod, except that it doesn't play music purchased from the iTunes store.

You may still want an iPod, if you think it makes you , or if it's easier for you to use -- but this device allows you to move sound files (MP3 or WMA, most podcasts are MP3) from your computer to the recorder for portable playback.

That's what I figured...I just haven't figured out how to sync files from Windows Media Player to the MP3 player (I tried a few times, following directions on the FAQ -- I'm doing something wrong). Maybe I should just get an iPod after all, if it'd be easier.

Thanks, Joe.

PS. I currently walk around the gym with a CD player in my pocket, so looking is definitiely not a prioriity.

David Hammond wrote:
PS. I currently walk around the gym with a CD player in my pocket, so looking is definitiely not a prioriity.

But your hats make up for it.

i listen to "the restaurant guys" podcast. very good stuff, they get some really great guests and the hosts really know what they're talking about.

http://www.restaurantguysradio.com/sle/rg/

There are also, of course, poster MJN's podcasts at hungrymag.

After my usual superficial deliberation, I think I'm going with the 60GB refurbished iPod (http://tinyurl.com/36lupr). My understanding is that downloading podcasts will be easier using an iPod than it would be with my other (essentially voice-recording) device, plus the menu seems like it would make searches easier as I'm blazing around the track.

I usually say No to service agreements, but it seems like one might be a good idea with a refurbished product, no?

Hammond

I think it's funny (and great!) that this thread began with a request to trade CDs and then lead to a purchase of an iPod!

Technology advancing right before our eyes!

Well, my ipod arrived yesterday, and I have spent many hours trying unsuccessfully to download a podcast. Good news: have not smashed ipod into wall yet...still, it's fairly early in the day. I have a feeling a "like new" ipod may be the next item offered at this trading post.

David Hammond wrote:Well, my ipod arrived yesterday, and I have spent many hours trying unsuccessfully to download a podcast. Good news: have not smashed ipod into wall yet...still, it's fairly early in the day. I have a feeling a "like new" ipod may be the next item offered at this trading post.

What problem are you having? What podcast are you having issues with?
Jamie

David Hammond wrote:Well, my ipod arrived yesterday, and I have spent many hours trying unsuccessfully to download a podcast. Good news: have not smashed ipod into wall yet...still, it's fairly early in the day. I have a feeling a "like new" ipod may be the next item offered at this trading post.

Is there a specific podcast you want to subscribe to? Some have links that make it very easy. For example, the Hungry Magazine "feeds" page has a "via iTunes" link. Click on that and it should take you to an iTunes page where you can subscribe to the feed or download individual episodes. If you subscribe, you'll get the current episode and future ones automatically, but you'll have to manually download older ones.
The aforementioned Restaurant Guys also have a direct iTunes link. So do many of the podcasts on the NY Times index page.

Some of the pages Eatchicago references have a "podcast" link but that's misleading because it actually downloads an MP3, which you'd have to manually add to your iTunes library. (Actually, it probably doesn't even download but just starts playing it.) Those guys also have iTunes podcast links in other places, but the actual "podcast" button won't do what you want it to.

Finally, some links like the NPR one EC posted (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=1053) need to be handled directly. For that one, in iTunes choose "Subscribe to Podcast" from the "Advanced" menu and paste the URL into the box which opens up. There's probably someplace on the NPR site with a direct-iTunes-link also, but the link he posted needs to be handled in this way.

Joe, thanks. I tried some of the previously mentioned links and they just played (like they're supposed to) without providing an opportunity to download.

Fortunately, MikeG talked me back from the edge a few hours ago, and I have now successfully downloaded some Splendid Table...so it looks like all is well.

Sincerely appreciate the help,

David

I think the key point to remember that a "podcast" is not an audio file that you download, but a subscription that provides audio files for automated download.

A podcast client (like iTunes) requires you to put in a URL for the subscription and it will automatically download new episodes when available (you can then have them automatically updated to your ipod).

Some sites will have a link to the latest episode in addition to a link to the subscription for iTunes. I think the confusing thing is sites like EatFeed and the Culinary Podcast Network have a link called "Podcast" which links to an mp3 file. This is confusing, misleading, and just wrong.

eatchicago wrote:I think the key point to remember that a "podcast" is not an audio file that you download, but a subscription that provides audio files for automated download.

That is a key point I was not exactly understanding until...maybe a few minutes ago. Thanks for the help (I need it more than I thought I would).

I love my 4GB ipod nano for when I travel (which is usually 8-12 days/month) which houses the most interesting third of my music collection, but I haven't really dived much into the spoken word world yet - although I do have a subscription to audible.com and am working my way through the unabridged Don Quixote from time to time.

But I've been trying to get motivated to start exercising again, and these food podcasts sound like a great idea.

I've been using my iPod for about three days now. I don't know how I was able to live without it. There are, as several have mentioned, a vast number of podcasts to choose from: today I listened to a Splendid Table report on midwestern food and MJN's excellent interview with Ms. Sharp of The Goddess and the Grocer. I will never again want for food talk.

David "Happy now" Hammond

David Hammond wrote:I've been using my iPod for about three days now. I don't know how I was able to live without it.

Have you listened to any music yet?

I think my iPods and Tivo fall into the category of "How did I live without it".

Jamie

Or as I often tell my kids, "When I was your age our TiVo only got three channels! And we had to crank the iPod to get it to play MP1s!