White’s of Henry Lane

It hasn’t been that long since 4.8, but many folks have been nuts for 4.9 ever since it was announced. Why? Buzzword compliance. iTunes 4.9 supports subscribing to podcasts, short radio-style shows distributed in MP3 through RSS.

Many people where concerned that podcasting would be restricted to Apple-sanctioned shows. I’m happy to announce that I’ve got it, and you needn’t be concerned. Apple supports subscribing to any show you want the same way it handles streaming radio that isn’t listed in the directory. Open the Advanced menu, and right under “Open Stream” is “Subscribe to Podcast”. Grab the link to the XML for your podcast, and drop it in the dialogue, and you’re good to go.

The subscribed podcast display has handy links to more info about the podcast and the broadcaster’s homepage. The Settings button allows you to chose the frequency with which you check for updates, how many episodes to snag, how many to keep, and what to upload to your iPod.

I’m pretty technical (a polite way of saying I’m a total geek), but I’ve found the podcasting process to be to hands-on and complicated for me to really get into regularly. The simplicity of handling podcasts in iTunes will no doubt have me and a lot of other neophytes getting into this popular medium whole-hog.

Go snag iTunes 4.9, and check it out for yourself.