My latest love: Podcasting

I am not a stranger to owning an iPod. In fact, I'm on my 5th one - I've owned every generation, I think. My latest model is the 60 GB iPod Video. I couldn't be happier with it. I owned the very first iPod, which, looking back at it now from about 4 years ago, looks ancient compared to the new ones.



Anyway, I'm a little late to the game, but the latest thing I love about my iPod is Podcasting. What is that, you might ask? (And I would ask, how's that cave you've been livin' in?) Anyway, it's downloading audio and video shows from iTunes (the world-renowned software that accompanies an iPod), almost all of them for free. It's fantastic! It now competes with my much loved Sirius Satellite Radio for my attention in the car. Even more exciting is that starting this fall, my long commute to KU will feel a lot shorter with so much material to listen to.

Early favorite Podcasts include a compliment of Slate programs, five different NPRs, VH-1's Best Week Ever, four different features from the New York Times, several from ESPN, and I even subscribe to several Podcasts from my beloved Edmonton Oilers, which include all press conferences. Righteous!

In short, Podcasting is my new addiction. And, of course, I love the video Podcasts. The picture is clear as a bell on my iPod video, too. It's like having mini TV shows at your fingertips, without the commercials. I'm loading up the iPod for our two weeks in Mexico. I may be about halfway to filling up my 60 GB in another week with all of my music, coupled with lots of videos and Podcasts.

Microsoft may have Windows, and with it an enduring legacy, but Apple will always have the iPod. Microsoft wins that matchup on many fronts, but not in hipness and coolness. Steven Jobs not only saved Apple, but he couldn't have done it without the many brilliant minds in Apple's R&D labs who gave the world the iPod; the company shipped just over 8 million iPods in the last quarter alone. Wow. Try as he might, Bill Gates has yet to even scratch the surface in the war for mini-music players, which are quickly becoming mini-media players. Apple dominates the MP-3 player segment with over 70 percent market share. Sounds like Windows-type domination to me.

If you are looking for an MP-3 player, look no further than the bitten fruit. Other companies have players that may cost a bit less and have a few more accessories, like FM radio, but who the hell cares about FM radio? That's deader than a Michael Jackson daycare. In the end, iPod outperforms them all anyway - the proof is in the market share.

In the portable media player universe, iGod.