Pick of the podcasts: Mommycast

By Darren Waters
BBC News entertainment reporter

Podcasting is being tipped as the next big thing in radio. There are thousands of different podcasts made by ordinary people around the globe that can be downloaded onto a PC and transferred to an MP3 player.

Apple has introduced podcast downloads into its popular iTunes music store and media giants such as CBS, ABC and the BBC are now offering a number of radio programmes in podcast form.

Here are six amateur podcasts which are worth listening to.

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Richard Vobes A daily show from the "Willy Wonka" of British podcasting, with help from daughter Georgie Coverville A regular music podcast featuring the best and worst of cover versions down the years Mommycast A weekly show which dicuss all aspects of motherhood and babies

Mr X and Julie Music, humour and quirky slices of life from a married couple based in the state of New York Jawbone The podcast Jerry Seinfeld would have made, if he'd settled down in Cleveland with five children Hometown Tales Stories of the weird and the wonderful from small town America

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MOMMYCAST

WHO MAKES THE PODCAST?

Paige and Gretchen are two mothers who live in the east of the United States.

"We came up with Mommycast mainly because I am a news junkie especially for anything that has to do with family, children, etc," said Gretchen.

"I was frustrated that I kept missing the segments on TV or radio that I wanted to listen to because I always had to tend to the children.

"I was intrigued by the possibility of providing this as a mobile medium for moms who are always on the run. There was also in my mind the need for moms to know that everything they are dealing with is normal and that they are not alone."

WHAT IS THE PODCAST ABOUT?

The weekly podcast is a mixed bag of features but generally deals with issues related to motherhood and children.

"Our podcast deals with what moms go through every day - kids, household, family, etc.

"We also talk about things that moms would be interested in. It's basically anything that we fancy, we pass it on.

"The funny thing is, judging from our feedback a majority of our listeners are men - dads. I think they are looking for insight into their wives' thought processes."

Recent programmes include interviews with the mother of a soldier, a feature on a recent documentary film March of the Penguins and music from unsigned groups on Garageband.com.

"Paige and I have a brief discussion of what has gone on in the last few days in our life and then just fly with it," said Gretchen.

She said Mommycast would cotinue as long as she and Paige continued to have fun.

"What all the people who are generating banter about podcasting burning out in three years is forgetting is that podcasters have a blast doing their shows," she added.