More Free Stuff for Your iPod

There is a wealth of free, legitimate, licensed content to be had on the web. Yes, you can listen to music, lectures, audio books, news, and radio shows without paying a dime. Most people with whom I've talked about this are not aware of the breadth of all of the cool free stuff out there that people are posting of their own volition.

Here's a few of my favorites:

iTunes U—An oft overlooked, little corner of the iTunes store filled to the brim with amazing, free stuff available from colleges and universities all over the place. Listen in on lectures from MIT, UC Berkeley, museum lectures like The Tate and MoMA, tons more. There's even a free David Sedaris talk and reading! It's crazy what you can learn here will sitting on your ass in your car or trudging through your elliptical routine at the gym.

Internet Archive—Includes an enormous selection of public domain and Creative Commons licensed material including nearly 4,000 audio books—from the Sherlock Holmes mysteries of Arthur Conan Doyle and the original Land of Oz stories of L. Frank Baum, to Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy and even the Baghavad-gita—along with large collections of internet only music labels and the Live Music Archive featuring over 63,000 concerts. I am currently enjoying the classical concerts from the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum.

iTunes Podcasts—Sure, you know they're there, but how to wade through all the crap? Unfortunately, I can't answer that question. I do know that I'm in the process of listening to or watching all of their posts from the IDEA Festival and TEDTalks (both audio and video) and so far they are all wonderful and, I think, well worth your time.

NPR Podcasts—Yes, the alluring mysteries of FM radio are still missing from the iPod after all these years, but you can download some of the best content on FM and forget about the weighty extra electronics that a bulky radio receiver would add to your commuting and workout buddy. Just download the best of NPR and start listening to the topics that interest you at your leisure. Why listen to another annoying analysis of the Economy from Hell when you really want to be listening to a talk about setting poetry to Baroque music?