It's like asking an mpreg fan ... why they like this really embarrassing and icky and offensive thing.

Well, it *does* embarrass me.

At no point have I suggested podfic (or mpreg, for that matter) is icky or offensive.

Simply that it weirds me out, just as I'm sure there are things out there in the fannish world that weird you out. So here I am trying to figure out from the people who love podfic what they love about it instead of letting it rest unexplored. If my curiosity hits you in a wrong place, there's nothing I can do about that.

I really appreciate your (and everyone else's) answers here. That's a good point about podfic setting a story's pace for you. I like to think that when I read fic, I'm always slow and careful and attentive to detail, but that's not always true, and with podfic, the listener is definitely guided by the pacing of the reader.

Thanks for shedding light on this for me. :)