Podcast Subscriptions Top One Million

[rdowns]

iTunes Podcasts - 1+ million subscribers

Apple(R) today announced that in just two days iTunes(R) customers have subscribed to more than one million Podcasts from the new iTunes Podcast Directory. iTunes 4.9 has everything users need to discover, subscribe, manage and listen to Podcasts built in, so users can now have each new episode of their favorite Podcasts automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod(R).

"With the release of iTunes 4.9, listeners are voting with their ears," said Adam Curry, co-founder of the PodShow Podcast Network. "Subscriptions have dramatically increased across our entire PodShow Podcast Network, and I predict over the coming months that iTunes will introduce tens of millions of new listeners to the world of Podcasting."

"Podcasting is like cappuccino," said August Trometer, developer of iPodderX. "Gourmet coffee was around for a long time, but it took Starbucks to put it on the map. Apple is like the Starbucks of Podcasting and advertisers will take us more seriously now."

"iTunes has done what possibly no one else could have accomplished, propelled Podcasting into the mainstream," said Will Lewis, management consultant for KCRW. "Our servers have been swamped with a stratospheric increase in traffic. In fact, downloads have increased tenfold as a result of the iTunes 4.9 launch."

iTunes enables anyone to quickly and easily find and subscribe to their favorite Podcasts so that every time there's a new episode, it's automatically downloaded to their Mac(R) or PC and Auto-Synced to their iPod. iTunes also makes it easy to manage multiple Podcast subscriptions with simple organization and display by episode and date. iPods now offer an easy to use Podcast menu, including bookmarking within a Podcast and the ability to display color Podcast artwork.

With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as integrated Podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod and groundbreaking personal use rights, the iTunes Music Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online. The iTunes Music Store features more than 1.5 million songs from the major music companies and over 1,000 independent record labels, 10,000 audiobooks, gift certificates and exclusive music not found anywhere else online.

 

[Lacero]

I've never heard a podcast until yesterday. Gotta give it to Apple. They made searching for and subscribing to podcasts very, very easy. Once you subscribe to a podcast, it virtually takes no additional effort on the part of the user. All you have to do is dock your iPod and have iTunes open, and the rest is automated. I love it.

 

[spacefreak4]

This isn't much of a surprise though, especially given the exponentially growing number of Podcasts and Podcast listeners.

 

[DavidLeblond]

I agree, I had written podcasts off as being lame (without ever having listened to one.) I tried it out with iTunes and I love it (especially This Week in Tech!)

"Podcasting is like cappuccino," said August Trometer, developer of iPodderX. "Gourmet coffee was around for a long time, but it took Starbucks to put it on the map. Apple is like the Starbucks of Podcasting and advertisers will take us more seriously now."

Apple the Starbucks of Podcasting? That would mean Apple would hunt around for the worst quality podcasts and then sell them to us for $5 a pop...

 

[xli_ne]

well they are free downloads, just think if they cost just a buck.
a cool million in under two days.

 

[runninmac]

Yeah you got to hand it to apple I think they would be one of the only companies that would make it easy to do. Before this I was to (idn what word mabey afraid???) to try it but now its so easy to do.

 

[JDOG_]

I think what would get me way more excited about all this would be Apple Hosting podcasts and not just linking them. A lot of these podcasters have had serious bandwidth issues because of the subscription model, and Apple offering this technology really should have been kind enough to offer the bandwidth for it themselves.

Am I wrong in my thinking here or just optimistic?

 

[J-Squire]

I see your point

I think what would get me way more excited about all this would be Apple Hosting podcasts and not just linking them. A lot of these podcasters have had serious bandwidth issues because of the subscription model, and Apple offering this technology really should have been kind enough to offer the bandwidth for it themselves.

Am I wrong in my thinking here or just optimistic?

I can see your point, but I don't think the podcasters would be complaining about the heavy traffic. If they have registered with Apple to have their podcast linked to via iTunes, they are obviously keen to gain exposure, and Apple has clearly delivered on that side of the deal. Apple shouldn't be required to add extra bandwidth to accommodate this extra exposure to people's podcasts.

 

[MacRumors]

Apple announced today that Podcast subscriptions have topped one million subscribers in the first two days of availability on iTunes 4.9.

“With the release of iTunes 4.9, listeners are voting with their ears,” said Adam Curry, co-founder of the PodShow Podcast Network. “Subscriptions have dramatically increased across our entire PodShow Podcast Network, and I predict over the coming months that iTunes will introduce tens of millions of new listeners to the world of Podcasting.”

iTunes 4.9 was released on June 28th.

 

[AoWolf]

So many so fast had no idea it was that big. Guess I better take a longer look at the list Good for apple PR for sure...

 

[biohazard6969]

yea, i had barely known wat a podcast WAS untill 2 days ago haha

 

[mad jew]

Honestly surprised.

This is going to affect regular radio broadcasts more than I first thought.

 

[ebunton]

well that was fast

 

[cube]

Of course. Apple made many podcasts subscribe-only the second day.

 

[TBR]

HHmm...

Apple has handled this podcast upgrade to iTunes without there usual panache, almost all new submissions are not being added to the library, there are a lot of people waiting to be listed. (including myself)

Not only that but the shows that are there are not updating correctly, check out the forums over at www.podcastalley.com and the many disgruntled podcasters voiceing what I'm trying to say far more eloquently.

Not only that but they didn't release the specifications for the additions everyone needs to make to there feeds to be in the directory until the day 4.9 was released, giving members of Adam Curry's little group of friends an advantage over the rest of us at day one.

ANYWAY...

The actual integration of podcasting into iTunes seems to be quite nice, works very simply and without any fancy features, the podcast part of the store has been flaky over the past few days though.

All in all a shaky start to Podcatching with iTunes but I'm sure it'll get a lot better soon. For now I'm sticking with iPodderx

 

[SpaceMagic]

Mwhahaha! Apple takes over Podcasting too

If you think that there's only 3000 podcasts, 1 million subscriptions = woah

 

[qzak]

seriously. i mean personally i see no interest in it at all, except for howard stern which probably wont be coming to podcast anyway. buut thats just me, obviously theres plenty of people out there thinking otherwise!

 

[iAlan]

Good to see...err..hear...

I was not really interested in Podcasts - I mean, listening to some tosspot rant on about his latest little peeve, or worst still someones absoute shocking taste in music...but there is a lot of good stuff out there and I will start subscribing to some of the dervices...most definately Apple's iTunes New Music Tuesday podcast...and maybe a couple of tosspots anyway!

 

[virus1]

i know that they don't cost money, but that is amazing! i am suprized most people are aware of itunes 4.9.

 

[Chaszmyr]

This is a shock to me. The only people I know interested in podcasting want NPR broadcasts, and iTunes doesn't currently offer those.

 

[jadam]

I was not really interested in Podcasts - I mean, listening to some tosspot rant on about his latest little peeve, or worst still someones absoute shocking taste in music...but there is a lot of good stuff out there and I will start subscribing to some of the dervices...most definately Apple's iTunes New Music Tuesday podcast...and maybe a couple of tosspots anyway!

Heh, I was jus tgoing to tell you to try out the NPR On the Media Podcast, but then I Saw your in Tokyo

Anyways yeah I agree, for the most part I don't wanna hear a bunch of pissy little people talk about everything that gets them on in life! But some of the stuff is professional and good!

 

[jadam]

This is a shock to me. The only people I know interested in podcasting want NPR broadcasts, and iTunes doesn't currently offer those.

Theres NPR On The Media.

 

[maya]

This news is good for Apple, iTune, PodCast, and all the individual PodCasters out there.

And all this for 2 days of official release of PodCast on iTunes.

 

[itsa]

I just don't get it... Does anyone really listen to the radio any more?

 

[jch200]

This is going to be huge for sure. What's really great if you ask me is just being able to download the shows and listen to them on my computer while I work. I haven't even put one on my ipod yet. Of course, it's great to be able to take them with you. But it's just a darn good way to listen to radio shows either way. This is so much better than having a built in fm tuner in the ipod.

The other cool thing is the name iPod is incorporated into "Podcast", so it's going to be really hard for the competition to adopt this feature without totally looking stupid. heh heh. Apple's made some very smart moves on how they played this.