There's a dimension to ChinesePod that Hank doesn't mention but that I think is relevant.

I tried a couple of the podcasts, without knowing a word of Chinese. I was impressed with the instructional strategies that I recognized: a quick advanced organizer (e.g., this podcast tells how to take the train from A to B), immersion into the Chinese-language dialogue, a discussion (in English, but with Chinese) elaborating on and extending the topic.

There were also two voices speaking Chinese, helping to refine a learner's ear. One was a native speaker, the other a Westerner with (so far as I could tell) a high level of fluency.

All this in the free portion of the site, encouraging me as a potential customer to think that the for-fee material would be worth the investment.