iTunes 4.9

June 28, 2005

iTunes 4.9 has been released! Downloading now…verdict to come.

I think the music store is getting crunched, very slow and can’t subsribe to anything. Managed to subscribe to G’day World to see how iTunes will handle podcasts, then deleted all my old stuff to let it do want it wants. For the timebeing. I’m far too anal to let it have all the fun of filing and completing tags.

Okay, working alright now. Just setting up all my subscriptions. Everything seems to be there, but, geez, get an import opml button.

First casualty: Dubber and Spoons Catch the Bus
Others: Radio Clash, MashCast, Mashup.Podcast, Podcast Solutions, Personal Productivity Show, Matt, Freak and the Fatboy, The Jazz Show.
(the Subscribe to Podcast option under the Advanced menu soon fixes that)

Waiting, waiting. Weird, the ‘most recent’ Paralyzer and Mr Clean is the International Announcement from ages ago. Adam’s keynote is up though. Podcasts don’t show up in the library, I wonder how this will work with songs that I want to keep and file, like mashups.

Heaps of doubling up and what looks to be blog xml feeds showing up in addition to podcasts

Looks like Adam’s got a new podcast: PodFinder. Apparently it’s a best of, recap or review show out weekly. Should be interesting.

Just found BOOKMARKS! Yeah! Each bookmark in PodFinder has it’s own artwork too. Haven’t tried it on the iPod yet, just iTunes.

CastBlaster is looking good too. Looks like the wBloggar of podcasting. I downloaded the Beta today and have just installed it to have a look while I’m waiting. Might try a practice later on…

Verdict: Looks really good. The music store seems like a great way to wade through the wealth of ‘casts out there, although branding (TPN, PodShow etc) could be a problem. The build up of debris could be an issue too. Podcasts go up and stay up, even if they aren’t being published anymore and with the release of tools like CastBlaster, one hit wonders could turn it into a haystack to try to find needles in.
Ratings based on subscriptions is easily the best system, so PodcastAlley could be looking down the barrel, as are the other podcatching clients. Their saviour here is the lack of customisation available. Already, I am looking for options that I always use in Doppler and find them lacking. At any rate, podcasting is going to go off like a frog in a sock over the next couple of months. It’s easy enough for anyone to use and it’s right there in iTunes. Things are getting exciting now…

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