I think that creating the audio essay and podcast each had its own challenges and qualities to it that differentiated the two mediums. Obviously, the audio essay is much shorter than the podcast, so when creating the audio essay, I definitely felt like it was more important to choose exactly what pieces of information I wanted to convey at each point of the audio essay (hence the script). With the podcast, since it has a length of around 15 minutes, there was no script needed and it was much more off the cuff. The podcast also has a much more personal tone to it than the audio essay, since with the podcast there are two people's opinions coming together and discussing a topic, whereas with the audio essay it is less personal and more focused on the information and facts that are being brought to the table. If I was an outsider that was choosing whether or not I wanted to listen to an audio essay or a podcast, I think that my decision would be based on whether I was interested in hearing more about personal opinions about said topic, or trying to gain as much knowledge as possible about the topic in a short period of time.