Since my last podcast review quite a bit has changed. I found two new favourites. Lots of podcastsers stopped podcasting. And my favourite podcast… well, episode 37 left me feeling like I’d been kicked in the guts and I’ve been a bit depressed about it since. (More on that later.)

KnitCast wasn’t back, as I’d hoped. There one one new episode and nothing since, but Marie has been os and I’m hoping that means she’s managed to record some interviews.

Knitcentric and KnittingPsychos have both stopped podcasting, though neither have said anything in their blogs about whether they’ll start again.

Math4Knitters is always interesting, but you have to be feeling bright and brainy for this one and I tend to listen to podcasts when I need time out from being bright and brainy.

I also tried BritKnitCast, Irie Knits and The FibreCast. I tried the most recent episode of each. The latter was the most enjoyable, but unfortunately she hasn’t podcasted since May so I suspect she’s stopped. The first BritKnitCast episode I tried was rather boring, as she spent most of it describing setting up and using a Knitters Loom! But the one after it was okay.

Lime & Violet and Knitty D and the City are both very funny, enjoyable podcasts. The latter doesn’t seem to have made a podcast for a while.

And lastly, Cast-on. Consistently good quality, interesting, enjoyable, professional…

However…

In episode 37 Brenda talked about the inspiration for her theme for the next series: the Free Culture Movement. Alarm bells were ringing soon after she started describing this philosophy. I’ve encountered it before and it disturbs and alarms me.

Then she said this: “I don’t believe that somebody has the right to take an entire novel that somebody else has written, slap their own name on the cover and market it as original work. But I do believe that somebody has the right to read the novel, and perhaps interpret part of it dramatically, and maybe do that in a public venue and charge admission.”

As a writer of novels, hearing that from a podcaster I’d respected was so disappointing. On one hand I want to argue with her and point out all the many ways that this sort of philosophy can bring about the exploitation of creative people, the vast majority who don’t make a lot of money. That getting rid of copyright laws would prevent professional creative people from being able to make a living out of their work, all for the sake of increasing derivative works.

On the other, I didn’t want to be thinking about it at all while listening to podcasts. I listen to podcasts as relaxation and entertainment. I don’t listen to writing podcasts, because writing is work for me. So now I’m thinking I’m likely to either end up angry and sad at the end of each podcast, or just stop listening to them completely.

Conversely, Lime & Violet’s discussion, in episode 12, of the illegal price fixing that some yarn manufacturers are practicing in the US, was very interesting (and safely knitting-related). If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, go have a look at this site: Consumer Friendly Yarns. I’m curious to know if this happens in Australia, too. And if we even have laws against it.