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Comment by ubermonkey | Hacker News Reader

This seems predictable, though, no? I sorta figured that it'd go like blogging, and here we are.

What surprises me is how many podcasts are INSANELY long -- like, 2+ hours. Where do people find the time to listen?

(Granted, I say this as someone with a zero podcast diet. I'm not opposed to them or anything; I just don't have a place in my life for listening to them. I have no commute. I prefer music when cooking or cleaning or whatnot. My exercise is usually biking, and I don't listen to anything for that.)

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> I have no commute. I prefer music when cooking or cleaning or whatnot. My exercise is usually biking, and I don't listen to anything for that.

This is the heart of it. I generally prefer listening to people talking as opposed to music. So instead of music I listen to podcasts when doing chores, going on walks, or going to the gym.

Although, when I stopped commuting my listening time went way down.

Same here.

I find 2+ hours of podcasts episodes way to long to listen.

I simply cannot find the time.

After work + learning + side projects + social life + friends and family + hobbies (both creative and consuming types), I don't have the time for 2+ hours podcast episodes.

I have found 20-30 minutes lengths as the sweet spot. Like: Darknet Diaries, History of Philosophy without Gaps, BBC in our Time Science, etc.

Shorter than that, I feel it doesn't penetrate my mind enough, like: Moments of the American Mathematical Society, Developer Tea.

Larger ones, I simply can't fit into my day: Huberman Lab podcast, some episodes of Lex Fridman's, etc.

I simply can't find the time.

If you have the time to listen to four 30-minute podcast episodes, you have the time to listen to a single 2-hour podcast episode.

Working my way through the back catalogue of my current favorite podcast, Reconcilable Differences (200 episodes at 1.5-3 hours each), took me around 12-15 months.

Can you take a break, pause and come back to it? I'm asking because I was thinking the response to why not might be interesting.

If I had to listen to a 2 hour podcast for a full 2 hours I couldn’t do it. Sorry to say, most people speak too slowly and this why I hated radio and a lot of television before; it’s not that they’re necessarily bad but I just don’t have the patience when I could be listening to music instead.

So I listen at between 2x and 3x with Overcast’s Smart Speed flipped on; but the upshot is I get through them a lot faster and I adjust the individual podcast speed to a level where I can still understand and process the discussion.

> I prefer music when cooking or cleaning or whatnot.

And that's where the time is found.

Podcasts play in my headphones as I do any mindless physical tasks I need to get done, snowblowing, renovating something, mowing my lawn, etc.

I'm not a good enough cook to do it without 100% of my focus.

Also despite WFH, I still drive quite a few hours so often there as well. I like music for quick drives around town, but 30+ minutes I prefer podcasts.

> What surprises me is how many podcasts are INSANELY long -- like, 2+ hours. Where do people find the time to listen?

Personally I break the podcast up. Whenever there is a guest or the host is talking about something I'm really interested in, I'll listen to the 3hr episode over the course of like 3-4 days, typically 30min to an hour per day.

My theory is that people are not listening that closely. You've heard about 'ambient TV', where there are shows people have on in the background, but aren't actively watching? This is similar.

I listen to audio books anywhere from 2 - 2.5x speed these days, so I assume people do that with podcasts too. 2 hours becomes 48 minutes then.

I always listen at regular speed.

Well, if the story is engrossing enough (The Fall of Civilizations podcast's episode about the Aztecs/Mechica, for example), then one episode turns into a week-long series of listening sessions and sets a great mood for the whole week. If it all works out well.

I watch them in 1.5x speed and skip chapters that don't interest me if there is timestamp on youtube.

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