In this recent post of mine I made reference to the fact that I routinely consume a number of tech/dev-related podcasts each week while walking my dog every day.  A reader has asked for a list of the podcasts to which I subscribe and I was starting to provide a list when I decided to turn the listing into a more comprehensive post so that others could see where I get a lot of my regular software development-related goodies.  So without further adieu here they are (in no particular order)…

.NET Rocks!

URL: http://www.dotnetrocks.com

Release Frequency: twice a week every Tuesday and Thursday (mostly like clockwork)

Typical Duration: about 60 minutes

This is the grand-daddy of my collection of podcasting sources.  With over 300 (yes, you read that right — over 300!) episodes reaching back (like forever!), this podcast is consistently full of timely and useful .NET-focused content.  Hosted nowadays by Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell, two Microsoft Regional Directors, these two routinely manage to get some of the most timely and relevant guests a .NET developer could hope for.

Despite the fact that Microsoft RDs are neither Microsoft employees nor regional nor directors (a common set of misconceptions that seems entirely reasonable given the title!), these two tend to unapologetically see the world through Microsoft-colored glasses a bit too much for my tastes, but that’s the world they live in.  For Microsoft-centric .NET-related content, you couldn’t do better in a podcast.

Heavy on specific details about individual Microsoft technologies; light on process or methodology about any best-practices in using them.

On a related note, check out their sister screencast site, DotNetRocksTV at http://www.dnrtv.com for content with the same kind of focus but delivered in pair-programming style screencasts where you get to see some actual code.  FWIW, these DNRTV screencasts formed the inspiration for my work on the Summer of NHibernate series of screencasts.

Hanselminutes

URL: http://www.hanselminutes.com

Release Frequency: about once a week, usually on Fridays

Typical Duration: about 30 minutes

In the .NET space, Scott Hanselman really needs no introduction (unless you have been living under a rock for the past 5+ years) but for a quick sort of dip-your-toe-in-the-water introduction to any particular .NET-centric software development concept, check out his podcast.  Joining Microsoft what has probably been a year ago by now, Scott now uses his insider status to get even better interview guests for his podcast than he could previously from the outside and much to his credit he seems every bit as independent with this content now after having been absorbed by the Redmond Borg Collective than before.

FWIW, you can also credit Scott personally for having a conversation with me early on where he convinced me that my initial constraint about finding a way to host the Summer of NHibernate Screencast content that had to be 100% free was creating needless friction for consumers that was limiting its value to the community.  So if you were a viewer of the Summer of NHibernate screencasts back when they were only available for download via that horrible method where I chopped them up into sub-50MB partial ZIP files , you have Scott to thank for (gently) pounding some sense into my head about how stupid and short-sighted that choice really was (thanks, Scott!).

ALT.NET Podcast

URL: http://altnetpodcast.com

Release Frequency: about every two weeks

Typical Duration: about 45 minutes

A relative newcomer to the podcasting arena (as of this writing they are on episode 10 or so), the ALT.NET podcast focuses on topics of direct interest to ALT.NET-focused developers and other Agile-adopters.  Light on technical details, heavy on process and principles (which really pretty much aligns with the focus of ALT.NET in the first place~!).

Herding Code

URL: http://www.herdingcode.com

Release Frequency: about every week or so

Typical Duration: about 30-45 minutes

A recent introduction by three or four Agile-focused .NET bloggers who record their sessions on a conference line, this one is a low-key affair offering opinions from a variety of sources on issues that affect .NET developers (and non-.NET developers too).

Plumbers-At-Work

URL: http://www.plumbersatwork.com

Release Frequency: unpredictable with long absences in between

Typical Duration: about 60 minutes

A podcast by what are almost exclusively employees of Microsoft-Canada (participants have varied over the months), this one offers a somewhat sanitized insider’s view of what’s going on within Microsoft — upcoming events, roll-outs, recently-released technologies, and release plans.  Very Microsoft-only, but valuable for what it is.

Stack Overflow

URL: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/

Release Frequency: every week

Typical Duration: about 60 minutes

Unless you have been on Mars for the past several months, you’ve no-doubt heard of the StackOverflow effort being undertaken by Jeff Attwood and Joel Spolsky.  This often meandering and largely unfocused casual weekly discussion between Jeff and Joel attempts to document the process of their design, development, and launch of the www.stackoverflow.com web property.  It succeeds to engage with reasonable frequency but don’t expect a coherent hour of discussion focused on a single topic here; perhaps interestingly in the same way as a car accident — you know you shouldn’t be that interested, but you find you are anyway .

Devcasting

URL: http://www.devcasting.com

Release Frequency: unpredictable

Typical Duration: 30-45 minutes

Intermittent releases of content that tends to be focused on high-level concepts and ideas rather than low-level technical details.

Software Engineering Radio

URL: http://www.se-radio.com

Release Frequency: about every 10 days

Typical Duration: about 60 minutes

The one non-.NET-centric podcast on my list, SE Radio is produced by a team in Germany and tries to be software-development-platform-neutral in their content as much as possible given the hosts’ background in Java.  This one is tremendously valuable for providing a window (no pun intended) into how software engineering principles and practices are being employed in and around other technology platforms.  Understanding dependency injection, exception-handling, and other core development concepts at a level disconnected from their specific technology implementation is tremendously valuable to anyone series about the concepts instead of just about the mechanics.  Highly recommended~!

Channel 9

URL: http://channel9.msdn.com/Media/Podcasts

Release Frequency: unpredictable

Typical Duration: varies, usually short

This is of course the podcast site hosted by MSDN so take it for what its worth (good technical content, sanitized by Microsoft so don’t expect unconventional views on any of these recordings).

Polymorphic Podcast

URL: http://www.polymorphicpodcast.com

Release Frequency: unpredictable

Typical Duration: about 30 minutes

This is an informal conversation-style affair that focuses on .NET paradigms and technologies.

Wrap-Up

That about all I can recall from memory right now but that’s a pretty comprehensive list of what I routinely listen to.  Have fun~!