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One of my first favorite apps for Android was Google Listen, a Labs project that offered a simple way to track and listen to podcasts on the go. No syncing, minimal set up, just click and listen to your favorite shows. You could search and subscribe from the app, or just add audio RSS feeds into Google Reader and it just worked great.

Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated in a year and it's gotten to be ... pretty break-y. Stuff like subscriptions not updating, not being able to download new shows and, most recently, awful blipping sounds that sound like a skipping old tape. Why an MP3 would sound like an old tape is beyond me. Some combination of clearing the cache, uninstalling and re-installing the app, and getting a new phone usually cleared the problems for a few weeks, but it was bad enough that I searched for an alternative.

The best I've found so far after playing around with about five options is ACast. It's the only thing I've found so far that fits in relatively closely as a drop-in Listen replacement:

• Syncs with my Google Reader Listen folder
• Plays podcasts without having to locally sync or tether with my computer
• Works consistently

It's also got a complicated UI and literally thousands of ways to configure it, but since I spend about 20 seconds picking a show and an hour listening, I can get past that.

I've been tempted lately to start a Tumblr called "Things I Hate But I Love." For one, it's the perfect Tumblr name, in an Emily Gould sort of way, but also it's something I've been experiencing rather frequently.

See:

• Overly complicated Starbucks drinks
• Pabst Blue Ribbon beer filling my fridge
• Entourage, though that's technically something I loved but now hate and still watch

The latest thing I'd tumble if given the chance is a podcast. I hate podcasts, and know few people who actively seek them out. They're damned inconvenient without an iPod+iTunes, and I find I end up just typing whatever the Podcast host is saying if I try listening to them at work.

But I needed something more productive to listen to than the Black Eyed Pees while running and commuting, and I decided to give Reboot the News a go. I had low expectations judging from the weekly podcast notes, but as I'm going through old episodes, each one has at least a gem that makes the 45-minute listen worth it.

The latest that has me thinking? Focusing on the "user of news," which I feel adds a bit of needed utilitarianism to our lofty profession. Hear that episode for yourself here:

Each week (except weeks they take off) Dave Winer, an RSS pioneer and all-around excellent geek blogger, and Jay Rosen, NYU journalism professor and Twitter gadfly, kick around on re-inventing journalism, and I highly suggest you listen in if that sounds up your alley.

Anyways, I don't have that Tumblr account, so I'll leave this meme be ... for now.

Further Reading:

• Reboot the News homepage, with archived episodes on the right side
• Things That I Ate that I Love, by Emily Gould
• Dave Winer and Jay Rosen on Twitter

Mark Cuban has a post up on why broadband is over-rated. The end touches on content, saying that re-purposed content might be worth re-streaming but otherwise ...

And finally, for all you content creators that think broadband video, whether to a PC or PDA will be the greatest opportunity to make money since…. Podcasting, well read my posts on podcasting. You aint gonna make crap from your broadband video efforts that are drawing zillions of downloads (dont you realize a download isnt the same as actually watching ? do you watch every minute of everything you download ???) unless someone hires you to create programming for TRADITIONAL VIDEO DISTRIBUTION METHODS LIKE TV or DVD !