One of my goals as a podcaster is to find ways of playing music that is different from what every other podcast is playing. Many podcasters are working from the same pool of available music, the Podsafe Music Network, and end up repeating the same songs.

With Christmas upon us, there is a desire to play holiday music in podcasts, and many podcasts have featured some really great holiday songs from the music available, but due to the limited music available under podsafe licenses, there is a lot of repetition of music.

So, I had no intention of rating podcasts based on holiday music, until I heard this podcast. Many of the songs are the same ones I have heard in other podcasts and browsed through in the PMN. I’ve used a lot of them myself.

But if you wanted one podcast for the holidays. One that stands out above all the rest and can be listened to over and over, I recommend the Glitchcast Holiday Special. Eric and Sara Skiff of New York City put out this podcast, which I have only started listening to recently.

Their Christmas Special puts all the essential podsafe songs together in one tastefully arranged and thought out order. Their introductions are low-key, appropriate for the season and heartfelt, making it truly a pleasure to listen to over and over. Burn this one to a CD and give it as a gift to a friend you are trying to explain podcasting to. It’s a shining example of what podcasting can be.

I hereby declare the Glitchcast Holiday Special #12 the Best Christmas Podcast of 2005!

On the other hand, I give the Grinch Award to the RIAA for making it so hard to play music legally. My wish for the New Year is for World Peace and the RIAA to wake up and stop punishing music fans for “stealing” music while they are getting rich by stealing from the artists they represent and stifling new music.