For listening practice, I've recently been listening to the yomiuri and radio nikkei news podcasts but they are a bit too difficult for me, so I only understand a few words here and there.

Does anyone know of any news podcast that uses more simple Japanese, perhaps something specifically aimed at children or language students? I still wouldn't expect to understand every word, of course, but something closer to my level would be more useful I think.

I too find those feeds hard to understand, but I think it is still helpful to understand terms being said even without the context being understood. I can pick out enough terms now to understand the basic context, but the details are still lost.

Listening to Japanese full-speed is probably best, since it is the most natural. Just my 2 cents.

Brian

I find this audioblog interesting, because from audioblog #71 there is also a small conversation in real Japanese. Besides, we have the script of the audioblog.
http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php?p=895&cat=8