For those who enjoy the videos, photo galleries and dispatches of Richard Bangs Adventures, there's always been one missing component in the media mix: audio. With podcasting, audio files can be delivered directly to your computer for replaying at leisure. Over the past few months producer Julia Romano sat down with Richard Bangs to record the complete set of the RBA dispatches, as read by the author. They've recently been released on Yahoo! Podcast.

Perhaps the most powerful medium is audio. Though photographs give us the frozen moment of an act or view, and movies give us the color and movement of the action itself, only audio seems to live inside the mind of the listener. It's almost easier to visualize a scene by listening to it than by seeing it, and certainly a greater exercise for the imagination.

Lovers of old-time radio programs — serial dramas such as "The Green Hornet," comedy like "Burns and Allen," or music programs including the "Louisiana Hayride" (where Elvis Presley made his first national appearance) — swear that television can't compete. The popularity of audio books — books on tape or, more frequently nowadays, books on CD — is another testament to the power of audio. And look around: how many people do you see plugged into their iPods, or other audio players?

Putting Richard Bangs' dispatches on audio was, for us, an easy call. Rich has a nice, comfortable speaking voice, while his writing is colorful, evocative, and a workout for the vocabulary. (Sorry, neither audio nor dispatches are footnoted!) As an author of almost a dozen titles, his book readings are invariably well-received and popular; we're sure you'll enjoy his dispatch readings as well. For an example, you can visit this page and listen to, download or subscribe to a dispatch from Macedonia, Healing Secrets of the Old World.

It's not just books that are found on podcasts. Your favorite radio shows (NPR is the current leader in podcast traffic), comedy performances, language lessons, and of course music shows can all be downloaded and enjoyed to your own schedule. You can browse the list of available podcasts at Yahoo! Podcasts.

You don't need a special music player just to listen, but if you want to subscribe to a podcast — either this one, or any of those on the web — then you should have a music player on your computer, such as Yahoo! Music Engine or Apple iTunes. More information can be found on Yahoo!'s What the Heck is a Podcast? page.

So let's get started! Visit the Richard Bangs Podcast page, and enjoy the best of Richard Bangs on Yahoo!