In addition to the daily in-take of e-newsletters, blogs, and books, I’ve become enamored of the podcast format. It’s a great way to passively gain knowledge and a lot of very useful content is being generated these days through this medium.

I use my iPhone and the Podcast app to subscribe to my favorite shows. I’ve noticed that my listening skews towards things related to business and startups (and the obligatory This American Life). This makes sense given the type of work I do everyday, but I’ll be venturing out to other subject areas to diversify my listening habits.

Here are five that I’ve found to be worthwhile in recent months:

Smart Passive Income
This podcast by entrepreneur Pat Flynn is packed with good information for anyone aspiring to start their own small business using the Internet. I love how he even breaks down his monthly income to show how he makes his own money using the methods he advocates. The length of his podcasts vary, with some being over an hour and some being in the 40-minute range. He usually has guests that range from other small business owners to experts in SEO and marketing.

New York City History: The Bowery Boys
Whenever I’m walking or biking around New York or taking a long car ride somewhere, I like to pull up a Bowery Boys episode about some building, neighborhood, or historical figure. Hosted by two best friends Tom Meyers and Greg Young, the podcast is well-paced and often very entertaining. I’m always excited whenever Robert Moses gets mentioned (I have a fascination with Bob the Master Builder) in the episodes, which happens pretty often. A couple episodes I enjoyed: the history of Prospect Park and the story behind the Verrzano-Narrows Bridge.

Startups for the Rest of Us
This fast-talking podcast by two “solopreneurs” Mike Taber and Rob Walling covers a range of topics related to being a bootstrapped entrepreneur. The hosts speak from their personal experiences and talk about things like “7 Tips for Becoming a Better Manager” or “Growing Your Business Past Employee Zero.”

Seth Godin’s Startup School
This isn’t an on-going podcast show but a set of 15 podcasts that are excerpts from marketer Seth Godin’s Startup School in 2012. There are some really useful nuggets in these that’ll get you thinking about business models, the “connection economy,” and permission marketing. I’ve always been a huge fan of Seth Godin since I first started my business in 2006, so this was a really neat way to get a recap of the things he’s been writing and blogging about over the years.

Hired
This is a fairly new podcast by Cameron Moll, a designer-turned-entrepreneur who runs Authentic Jobs. I’ve followed Cameron Moll’s work since back when I used to design all of Barrel’s sites, so it’s been cool to hear him interview other business owners and talk about his own transition from designer to business owner. Guests have included people like Jason Fried of 37Signals and Greg Hoy of Happy Cog. Excited to hear more of his interviews in the coming months.