Ear Candy

So I have a 20 minute or so commute to work each day, and I can't read on the bus so I like to listen to audio books. Anything, really...especially free stuff. But my favorites have to be audio dramas...

They have classic old audio dramas like Nero Wolfe, The Shadow, and Suspense! on the internet archive...the quality isn't great, but there are some real gems in there.

The best stuff I've found, though, is Decoder Ring Theater. This is a production of old-fashioned radio dramas, but all new--they've got a super hero drama ala The shadow, The Red Panda, and a noir detective show called Black Jack Justice. This is really great stuff--good writing, GREAT voice acting and quality production values. And it's all free (they do accept donations).

Of course, for audiobooks there's Podiobooks, but this is really hit-and-miss. It's mostly amateur stuff, and a lot of it is truly terrible, but there are some real gems in there--Mur Lafferty's "The Takeover" is awesome. Think "The Office" with zombies.

Then there's Librivox, which is a place where volunteers record public domain books for free--you can get stuff like Sherlock Holmes, H.G. Lovecraft and Poe on there.

And I've found good stuff on Escape Pod (science fiction) but it's sister shows, Podcastle and Pseudopod mostly...well...suck. Maybe that's just me.

Any other fans of audio books/dramas out there? Any good tips?

Sorry I am a reader or a sleeper depending on how many times my kids got up through the night.

I used to listen to Nightly Business report and WSJ stories. Itunes has some good podcasts that are free. Might Check there.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

I loved listening to these when they were broadcast in the '70's. I'd love to see these remastered and offered for sale.

Thanks for the tip there, those are some nice radio dramas!

Phil, you should give the ones I linked a try. They're a hoot!