Hands-On Report--Apple's New iTunes 4.9 & Podcasts

iTunes 4.9 was released by Apple and it is available for download from the Mac OS X System Preferences Software update pane or as a standalone file from this Apple Web page. According to Apple,

With iTunes 4.9, you can now browse and subscribe to podcasts from within the iTunes Music Store. Podcasts are frequently updated radio-style shows downloadable over the Internet. You can also transfer podcasts to iPod, for listening on the go.

We downloaded and installed iTunes 4.9 both ways on Macs running 10.4.1 and 10.3.9 with no problems. When iTunes 4.9 is launched, a new Source called "Podcasts" appears in the left section under "Library." It holds podcasts subscribed to from the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) and is not a playlist. Podcasts obtained the old fashioned way, i.e. downloading, dragging and dropping an MP3 file onto the music "Library" window, do not appear in the "Podcasts" window.

Near the lower left center of the Podcasts window is a link to the podcast directory in the iTMS and a link for reporting concerns. To the right are buttons that allow one to unsubscribe from a podcast and to enter podcast preference settings. Clicking the directory link accesses the iTMS and brings up its podcasts section.

All podcasts are currently free and none are hosted on Apple's servers. The podcasts are simply linked from their RSS feed and download from their "home" server. They are classified into 21 categories so whoever predicted 8 was wrong. There is also a listing of the top 100 podcasts and a search engine.

When we first intalled iTunes 4.9 yesterday morning, there were only 18 podcasts listed in the top 100, now there are 100 thanks to the iTMS feature that allows one to publish one's own podcast. Clicking on the "Publish a Podcast" link provides a simple step by step process for proposing a podcast for publication. It's listed on iTMS after Apple approves the proposal (see the "Learn more" FAQ for details).

Clicking on a particular podcast, e.g. #2 Inside Mac Radio, takes one to a listing of the RSS feed episodes for that podcast. Inside Mac Radio had 13 as of publiction time. There is a button to subscribe, a button to get a single episode and a link to the originating web site. There is also a link to report a concern. We subscribed to Inside Mac Radio (#2) and Engaget Podcasts (#3) to test iTunes 4.9's new feature. [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]