If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been lately, I have a guilty secret. I have a podcast addiction.

I recently gave up on trying to make my WMA-based MP3 player do what I wanted it to do. I had a “to go” subscription with a music-streaming service and it just. Never. Worked. Right.

After a year and a half of struggle, I threw in the towel and bought an iPod Nano. I’m in love with it. Okay, so I can only listen to music I “own,” but I tend to buy what I want to listen to anyway. And those subscription fees add up.

The big revelation for me over the last month is all the fantastic Podcast programs available. There’s the pro stuff, like daily downloads of Fresh Air from NPR, and weekly downloads of the News from Lake Woebegon from the Prairie Home Companion broadcast and “This American Life.”

But the really cool stuff is by regular people — like Brenda Dayne’s program “Cast-On,” my new best friend while I’m knitting. And the fabulous “Easy French Poetry” by Camille at LearnFrenchInBoston.com.

And it is just so much easier to deal with than my old Rio Carbon player. I don’t even have to think about it — I just connect the iPod and it all synchronizes perfectly without any intervention by me. Life is hard enough without having to run interference between gadgets.