Until recently, “podcasting tended to be almost exclusively for the young, geeky or both. Last week, however, that changed,” The Economist reports. “That is because Apple, which dominates the online-music business, has integrated the requisite ‘podcatching’ software into the latest release of iTunes, the jukebox software that accompanies the iPod. Finding and subscribing to podcasts, once a fiddly business, is now simple. One click takes users to a page of podcasts on offer, from public-radio shows to the eccentric ramblings of geeks; another click sets up the subscription. Podcasts are transferred to an iPod automatically when it is plugged in. So the iPod has finally staked its claim to a medium that already bears its name.”
The Economist reports, “This could have significant consequences. ‘Something remarkable is happening here,’ beams a voice in one of this week’s podcasts by Adam Curry, a former MTV host who pioneered the medium last year. ‘Radio is springing free of the regulated gatekeepers who’ve managed what you can hear since radio was invented. It’s jumping into the hands of anyone at all with something or nothing to say.'”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Research group: U.S. podcast audience will grow to 56 million by 2010 – July 06, 2005
Apple iTunes 4.9 dramatically increases KCRW podcast downloads – July 02, 2005
Apple iTunes leaves Microsoft Media Player in the dust – July 01, 2005
Apple iTunes podcast subscriptions top one million in first two days – June 30, 2005
Analyst: iTunes 4.9 helps Apple by bringing podcasting to the masses – June 28, 2005
Apple releases iTunes 4.9 for Mac and Windows with podcasting features – June 28, 2005