This post is actually in preparation for another that will list my favorite Podcasts. First I thought it would be helpful to show you how I get through the many many hours of Podcasts generated a week. Other than listening to them while driving & during downtime, I time-shift them to 1.5x their recorded speed. To do this, I use AppleScript and QuickTime on my Mac Book.
The Script:
tell application "iTunes"
pause
set my_track to location of current track
set my_seconds to player position
end tell
tell application "QuickTime Player"
open my_track
set my_movie to first document
set ts to rate of my_movie
set current time of my_movie to my_seconds
set rate of my_movie to 1.5 — starts playing
end tell
You then save this into: “Library > iTunes > Scripts” from there you’re ready to go.
In Action:
After the script is saved, it is ready to be executed: 
Blamo, go go go!: 