Welcome back to my blog! Today I will be sharing my first impression with you on the podcast series, “Serial”. I have only watched the first episode but I definitely intend on watching the rest of the series later on. If you want to listen to the podcast yourself, you can find it here or if you’re lazy; here is a summary.
Overall Thought
I am new when it comes to podcasts but I really enjoyed this. I have tried listening to some podcasts in the past but could never finish them because they were boring and put me to sleep; however this series really caught my attention. It kept me engaged the whole time while I could relax in bed while I was listening to the podcast. I also really enjoyed the investigative journalism format, it made me feel as if the podcast was only meant to be heard by me; as if Sarah left the audio for me. I like mysteries and stories like this so it kept me listening to the whole thing.
Podcast or Book?
Now that I have listened to a podcast that I enjoyed, I can compare it with reading a good book. Here is a table to help show the advantages and disadvantages to books and podcasts.
Podcast – In a podcast you are able to listen to different voices and perspectives. Yes, you can do this in a book but it doesn’t give the same effect when you can physically hear different voices. While listening to podcasts, you have the ability of multitask, you can listen to podcasts when driving in a car, relaxing in bed or going for a walk. Whereas if you’re reading a book, you could not do these tasks while reading a book. The main disadvantage of listening to a podcast, is that you have to have with your phone or electronic device with you all the time.
Books – Books have the advantage of being simple, you can read them anywhere in silence; without the need of your phone and can be brought around with you anywhere. I also think that books are better for doing essays and papers on. You can refer to page numbers, quotes and proofs very easily; as well as highlight or bookmark something if it important. In my opinion, the main disadvantage to reading a book is that it requires 100% of your focus. This happens to me quite often when I am reading a book that I’m not focused on; I end up having to read it over and over again making it really inefficient and a total waste of time.
Conclusion – In conclusion, I personally would prefer to listen to a podcast over reading a book. The main reason being is that I can multitask or relax while listening to a podcast. But that’s just me, let me know what you prefer in the comments.
Concerns
One thing I have against this podcast, it is to do with the victims family privacy. I feel that since this podcast has become really popular, I am not totally sure that the victims family would be ok with everyone knowing about the story. I am guessing that the family does not really care about the podcast, seeing that there is no big complains from them. However, I know that if something like this happened to my family; I would not want to make it public. Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Another topic I want to talk about is during the beginning of the podcast Sarah talks about the the struggles of peoples memories. I could see this coming in to play with my memory and the podcast itself. With there being 12 episodes in this season and the episodes being long (averaging just under an hour long). I feel that I myself won’t remember all of the information and evidence by the time I get to the final episodes; knowing that I don’t have good memory either. I personally do not have good memory and certainly would not remember what I did during a specific day. Comment below what you think about your memory.
Conclusion
I overall really enjoyed this experience with podcasts and this series. I would definitely recommended this to anyone, even if you don’t like podcasts; try it out! Comment below and let me know if you have any additional thoughts. Thanks for reading!
Works Cited
“Episode 01: The Alibi.” Serial, serialpodcast.org/season-one/1/the-alibi.
cresswell. “Serial Podcast: Episode 1 ‘The Alibi’ – Summary.” Leanne Cresswell, 5 Dec. 2016, http://www.lsbu-multimedia-journalists.co.uk/cresswell/2016/11/02/serial-podcast-episode-1-the-alibi-summary/
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