Discover a New Favorite With NPR's Podcast Finder

The NPR Arts, Books, & Culture desk has spent the better part of the last year developing the ultimate podcast guide. Called earbud.fm, the recently launched website features over 200 handpicked episodes from a wide range of podcasts. 

Broken down into categories like “Do It Like A Lady,” “Brighten My Day,” and “Hanging Out,” the podcast finder features episodes chosen by listeners, radio and podcast hosts, and even a handful of celebrities. Matthew McConaughey, for instance, recommends Snap Judgment, while Neil deGrasse Tyson picked out TIME’s 10 Questions.

"Podcasts as a form of mainstream journalism and entertainment have reached a level of influence in our culture that deserves the kind of editorial attention our cultural news department gives to books, movies and music," Michael Oreskes, NPR's Senior Vice President of News and Editorial Director, explains. 

Oreskes and his team have been gathering submissions from podcast listeners since Spring 2015—but though they’re open to all subject matter, only the highest quality content makes the cut. Not every submission that gets sent in joins the list. Rather, impressively, they’ve been obsessively reviewing as many submissions as possible.

The folks at earbud.fm are also aware that discovering an interesting new podcast is really only half the battle: sometimes choosing the right episode to start with can be just as difficult. Do you start with the first episode? The most recent? Or somewhere in the middle? To solve that problem, earbud.fm doesn’t just recommend podcasts—they work hard to identify the best possible entry point. That makes earbud.fm the ultimate beginners guide to podcasts.

“These episodes are favorites,” NPR explains, “They are recommendations from people who were touched by something they heard and wanted to share that with you.” 

Earbud.fm will continue to collect recommendations in order to grow the site. So whether you’re completely new to podcasts, looking for something fresh to listen to, or an expert listener with some great recommendations to make, Earbud.fm is an amazing resource. Check it out here.

[h/t: NPR]