iTunes 4.9 is here with Podcasting support but wait... there's more

Michael Gartenberg | June 28, 2005, 07:01 AM

No real surprises here but a few treats that weren't revealed in the public showings until now. The new iTunes client is here and the podcasting support is excellent. There's a nice mix of homegrown stuff, things from NPR and ESPN and others. What's really cool is the control I have over the podcasts. I can download one, subscribe to a feed, keep a set number on my device and have them automatically deleted after I've listened. In short Apple's done for podcasting the same thing they did with RSS in Tiger. They made it usable by the mass markets and at the same time, they have the what is going to be the most widely used podcasting client on both Macintosh and Windows and that will make their directory the one to be listed in. But there's more. Apple also tweaked the firmware in all the iPod so there's no a separate podcasting category, which means podcasts won't get shuffled with my music and will support bookmarks so I can listen to podcasts and resume where I left off. So it's not just the premier podcast PC client, the iPod itself is now first among devices with integrated podcast support. Combine this news and the new pricing and the integration of iPod photo into the core white iPod line and you see why Apple remains the player to beat in this space.