Apple today announced it is taking Podcasting mainstream by building everything users need to discover, subscribe, manage and listen to Podcasts right into iTunes 4.9, the latest version of its award winning digital music software and online music store. iTunes users can now easily subscribe to over 3,000 free Podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod.
“Apple is taking Podcasting mainstream by building it right into iTunes,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO in the press release. “Podcasting is the next generation of radio, and users can now subscribe to over 3,000 free Podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod.”
The new Podcast Directory in iTunes 4.9 features over 3,000 free audio programs, making it one of the largest Podcast directories in the world, with favorites such as ABC News, Adam Curry, BBC, Clear Channel, The Dawn and Drew Show, Disney, Engadget, ESPN, Newsweek and NPR member stations such as KCRW in Los Angeles and WGBH in Boston.
iTunes enables anyone to quickly and easily find and subscribe to their favorite Podcasts so that every time there’s a new episode, it’s automatically downloaded to their Mac® or PC and Auto-Synced to their iPod. iTunes also makes it easy to manage multiple Podcast subscriptions with simple organization and display by episode and date. Starting today, iPods will offer an easy to use Podcast menu, including bookmarking within a Podcast and the ability to display color Podcast artwork.
iPod and iTunes are leading the digital music revolution. With over 15 million iPods sold as of March 31, the iPod is the world’s most popular digital music player, and the iTunes Music Store is the number one online music store with over 430 million songs purchased and downloaded worldwide.
iTunes 4.9 for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is available immediately as a free download from http://www.itunes.com. The new Podcast menu is available starting today via a free iPod software update for all Click Wheel iPods and iPod minis from http://www.apple.com/ipod. iTunes 4.9 users can download and subscribe to Podcasts with no additional software required, as support for Podcasts is built right into iTunes and iPod.
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I can remember when “podcasts” were called “mp3’s”
I hope the world doesn’t fall for this.
the world has “fallen” for much worse… don’t worry about it. just go back into your mom’s basement. it’ll all be okay.
It’s not the file type that makes it a podcast. What makes a podcast is the process of subscribing to an RSS with software that can automatically retreive a file and place it where ever you like for later enjoyment. The file is still called an mp3. It’s the delivery system that makes it a podcast.
Verbose, you’ll need to use smaller words for Apologist to understand. words like “stuff” and “thingee” and phrases like…
“That whachamacallit with all the buttoney things that have letters on ’em…”
What special software would an iPod need to play an mp3? Amazine what people hype up. And whhy is the 3g’s left out of this wonderful software update? This is wierd. Still love my pod thos so whatever…
I can’t quite tell whether the 3Gs can’t support any iTunes Podcasts or just that they can’t use the bookmarks features. Anybody know for sure? I’ve been using iPodderX just fine with my 3G iPod for months. I just make sure all my podcasts have “Podcast” as their genre and then browse that way.
Podcats intergrated nto iTunes 4.9 is greatness!
And you don’t need any special software to play an MP3 on an iPod. It fully supports it. And even though the iPod 3G doesn’t have a Podcast menu, that doesn’t mean you can’t play your podcasts on it. Its just a normal music file.
Very strange: iTunes 4.9 is not available for download yet. Apple usually make things available as soon as they’ve been announced. I can’t wait!
perfusionista, I didn’t have any trouble downloading it. I’m browsing podcast right now!
OK, cancel that. It is available, but you have to go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ and not to the OSX downloads page…
People, please let our windows friends continue to live a harder life that they so desperately love. They are used to things taking many steps to accomplish simple tasks. Meanwhile we will enjoy this wonderful innovation that makes subscibing to Podcasts easy and fun and, well, Mac.
can’t wait for microsoft to release the “me too” press release like they did for rss in stillborn. what i want to know is will they rename it to not allude to the ipod?
will it work on my shuffle?
Ok, how do you get these things to your iPod? I have them in iTunes, but they aren’t going to my iPod…any ideas?
Nevermind, it just makes a new playlist called Podcasts, which I already had from old podcasts. Ha!
where’s 10.4.2? Mail has a major bug up its ass.