NPR Cast and Podcasting Thoughts · Tuesday, July 5, 2005

A lot of people have been asking me what happened to the development of NPR Cast. Well, I continued development in my spare time, and had a version working that used a more liberally licensed chunk of code for conversion, and I improved the interface significantly. There were some loose ends to be tied up, but the application was largely complete.

Then, I heard the rumors of Apple adding Podcasting support directly into iTunes, and I knew that NPR Cast had seen its last days even before being released to anyone. There was still a glimmer of hope, considering that iTunes original podcasting directory didn’t include NPR programming. Today I read a story on Marketwatch that contained this choice quote…

Audible.com’s loss looks to be Apple’s gain. The podcast section of the iTunes Music Store Monday included a subscription option for NPR’s afternoon news show, “All Things Considered.” A few weeks ago, NPR pulled ATC and several other shows it produces from Audible.com’s subscription download service. The iPodNews Network Website first reported the listing of “All Things Considered,” and said several other NPR shows including “Morning Edition” and “Talk of the Nation” were also seen in the iTunes podcast directory.

So, there you have it! Apple is integrating National Public Radio into iTunes podcasting, and is doing it in a more integrated way than I could imagine without iTunes source code.

That being said, I am feeling more and more confident in my prediction about the future of Apple’s podcasting support in iTunes. Apple is holding a media event on July 7th, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they introduced a commercial partnership with Sirius Satellite Radio and major talk radio shows to provide a subscription podcasting service to iTunes.

I would like to think that it was all my idea, so I think I will. Steve, feel free to leave a comment on this article thanking me for the idea, and we can talk later about where to send the residual checks (or you could just hire me…).

Radio is dead. Long live podcasting.