“Ever since Steven P. Jobs returned to Apple Computer in 1997 after a 12-year absence, his company has thrived by executing the same essential formula over and over: Find an exciting new technology whose complexity and cost keep it out of the average person’s life. Streamline it, mainstream it, strip away the geeky options. Take the credit,” David Pogue writes for The New York Times.

“So far, Apple has worked this kind of magic on digital video editing, wireless networking, online music selling, R.S.S. feeds (a kind of Web site subscription) and other technologies. Its latest attempt, however, will be music to an awful lot of ears. With its release of the free iTunes 4.9 software for Mac and Windows, Apple has just mainstreamed podcasting,” Pogue writes. “A podcast, as anyone under 25 can tell you, is an audio recording posted online, much like a short radio show. (‘Podcasting’ is a pun on ‘broadcasting,’ implying, of course, that you listen to it on your iPod or another music player.) The beauty of a podcast is that it’s free and you listen to it whenever you like. And there are more than 7,000 podcasts ‘on the air’ right now, on every conceivable topic. Their quantity and variety already dwarf what you can find on regular radio.”

“Clearly, the motivation behind Apple’s podcasting program is selling more iPods. You can certainly get podcasts onto other music players, but not with the effortless, automated flow of the iTunes-iPod system,” Pogue explains. “In other words, these free podcasts are just another feather in the iPod’s cap.”

MacDailyNews Note: See John Gruber’s excellent article, “Is That a Podcast in Your Pocket?” over on DaringFireball.com for more about Apple’s foray into podcasting with iTunes 4.9.

“Not everybody is happy with Apple’s podcasting ecosystem, by the way. Geeks have griped that, unlike other podcast programs, iTunes doesn’t speed up downloads using high-tech tricks with names like ETags, compression and ‘last modified’ headers. Early podcasters complain about the growing presence of the slick corporate ‘casts, claiming that they’re ruining the grass-roots, power-to-the-people feeling of the original podcasts,” Pogue writes. “And, of course, there’s the perpetual wheel-squeaking of long-time iPod haters, who feel suffocated by the whole astonishing iPod juggernaut. They can only resent Apple’s success in bringing podcasting to the masses with its own stamp all over it.”

Pogue writes, “But all of that is whimpering in the wind. Overnight, iTunes 4.9 has already become the most popular podcast-management software on earth; Apple says that within 48 hours of its release, Pod people had subscribed to more than a million podcasts. Pockets of the populace may not enjoy the transformation of podcasting into a commercial, pop-culture phenomenon, but it’s too late now. The people have spoken – or, rather, listened.”

Full article here.

Related iPodDailyNews articles:
NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ now available as podcast – July 28, 2005
Survey reveals 87-percent of U.S. internet users don’t know meaning of term ‘podcast’ – July 22, 2005
Apple’s iTunes Music Store offers erotic podcasts that some are calling ‘porncasts’ – July 22, 2005
Fortune: podcasting is a celebration of power of the Internet – July 12, 2005
Microsoft employees squeamish about ‘podcast’ term, try using ‘blogcast’ instead – July 11, 2005
The Economist: Apple’s embrace of podcasting ‘could have significant consequences’ – July 08, 2005
Research group: U.S. podcast audience will grow to 56 million by 2010 – July 06, 2005