The BBC has a decent section with a number of tools for different levels & uses:

• Spanish Section
• Spanish Steps
• Spanish GCSE Bitesize

And here are some of the Spanish Podcasts I’ve been listening to on the way to work:

• Notes in Spanish
• Edufone
• Voices en Español
• Medical Spanish & Spanish Grammar Review
• Spanish Pod
• Spanish Pod 101

I’ve been listening to Podcasts and reading bilingual Spanish/English books for about 3 months now, and have just started a college course.

I’ve found that the real life interaction, practicing speaking and receiving feedback has accelerated my learning greatly, even after just a couple of sessions.  It just shows that although these technologies can help you, there’s no substitute for real people!

So Internet marketing is ideal for me. But researching, reading, going to conferences, lectures and sitting behind a monitor can only get you so far – sometimes you need to get involved.

And I’ve found it can be more challenging than you ever expected!

I’m doing a podcasting course at the moment, and after a half hour podcasting session, I feel like I’ve done a full days work!

I’m fine with editing, publishing and promoting, but presenting is a skill that clearly takes a lot of practice!

(unless you’re happy sounding like an Alvin/Simon/Theador combo)

So look forward to further opinions on what’s good and bad in the Podcasting world.

I have a great interest in Podcasts, but due to having an unfortunate ‘voice of a small child’, I think I’ll need to stay on the planning, production and marketing side of things!

In some cases you can subscribe after the initial search, but in other cases, it becomes apparent that they mean download an MP3 file…. and for the next edition you would have to check back to the site to download the next one… This is not a podcast.

Podcasting, as defined by Wikipedia is “a portmanteau of Apple’s “iPod” and “broadcasting”, is a method of publishing files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new files automatically by subscription, usually at no cost. It first became popular in late 2004, used largely for audio files.”

Podcasts are great because you can listen to up-to-date information on niche topics, and you can do it while driving, when you’re in the gym, or doing housework… (OK so the middle example is somewhat hypothetical).

There are some excellent resources available, and publishers range from large organisations such as the BBC and The Times, to small companies and individuals who create podcasts as a hobby or to generate interest in their services.

Generally podcasts have been free – but premium content podcasts, and subscription models are becoming more popular.

The quality I’ve seen has varied widely, excellent examples of podcasts I’ve been listening to include content from the BBC, and Educational institutions, however I’ve encountered some shocking content from some of the more niche interest groups…

Here are some examples of the bad behaviour I’ve experienced in pod format:

• Clearly no script
• Waffle, and excessive ‘off topic’ conversation
• Poorly edited, or obviously not edited
• Produced in one take, and published with no attention to detail
• Long repetitive intro music… or just really bad music
• Background noise
• Phones ringing

When publishing via Podcast, you can pick it up and listen whenever you’re free – often subscribing to multiple podcasts. So when a 10 minute podcast is diluted with 2 minutes of apologies and excuses for why it’s not been as regular as they would like… not good.

I’ve made a brief post on the PushONline Marketing blog with some examples of great Web Design/Online Marketing Podcasts…

But one non work related podcast that I rate highly is the Russell Brand Podcast; it’s pure random genius, and a typical example of the high standards of digital media that the BBC are producing.