Unless you’ve been in a coma, you must have heard the news: Yesterday Apple Computer announced a video-enabled iPod and video content for it available for purchase through the iTunes Music Store.

This is, well, huge, because (1) it’s Apple’s first small step into the video-on-demand business, and if they do this right, they’ll own it, and (2) forget podcasts; now vidcasters like Jenn Cutter can get their content into the hands of white earbud users everywhere.

So is this the death of TV or what?

It’ll take a while (the coming holiday shopping season, at least) for this new “wide-pod” to gain significant market share; perhaps in the meantime sometime can ‘splain to me how vidcasters are going to make any kind of money to sustain their ongoing efforts. It’s one thing to muck around with a microphone, but quite another to plan, shoot, edit and deliver video programming on a regular basis.

Advertising could support vidcasts, I suppose, but wouldn’t it be cool if Apple would let the little guy content producers charge for their wares just like the big boys do, and collect the cash for them through the iTunes Music Store?

That might really end up being the death of TV, in the best possible way…

Being the internet bigwig that I am, I got a sneak preview of OpenAlpha.tv, a new gaming/tech show being launched on the ‘net tomorrow by Jenn Cutter.

Ms. Cutter is but one example of a new movement called IPTV. All over the world, people fed up with the crap on their idiot boxes are doing something about it.

And I say bring it on!

… Inspired by a perfectly reasonable question put to me by Al Howell: “So I was on this a Podcast site and clicked on the link for the audio, but instead I got a bunch of XML code. What up with that?”

As I explained in my very first post on the subject, you don’t actually need an iPod to enjoy Podcasting; rather, the equation works out like so:

Podcasting = netcast audio + RSS syndication.

Podcasting guru Adam Curry and software vendors like iPodderX are all over this “subscription model”—that is, that you need a Podcatching client to subscribe to your favourite Podcasts and have them automatically imported into your iTunes software, so that from there you can either:

A) upload them to your iPod;

B) burn them onto a CD for the car;

C) god forbid, listen to them right on your computer!

For me, there are two problems with this: First, since joining the Podcast revolution my library of MP3 files has more than doubled in size, filled with hour-long talk and music shows that I’ll only need to listen to once. All these shows are archived on the Podcasters’ sites, so to have local copies on my computer as well seems like unnecessary duplication and a waste of my valuable hard drive space.

Second, and what nobody’s telling you, is that Podcatching software doesn’t really work. The free open source and multi-platform iPodder couldn’t reliably launch or run on my Mac, and the version 3.0 of iPodderX is so bloated with unnecessary features that it’s bewildering even to an alleged “power user” like me.

I think the real innovation in Podcasting is merely the idea that anyone can produce audio content for mass distribution. Supposedly Apple is to include a Podcast directory in their next version of iTunes. Until then, Podcatching will be as much a gimmick as a convenience, and I’ll get my Podcasts directly from the web.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t posted a Podcast in a while, here’s the reason: I’ve been listening to a lot of them—the better ones will get listed on the sidebar of this page—and I think I’ve misread the market of this nascent genre more than a little bit . Most Podcasts seem to be geared towards commuters, hence their average running times of 30 minutes or more. The most successful ones are either about music or (big surprise) technology, and while any of my friends will tell you that I could easily go on about cell phones for an hour, even I wouldn’t wish that on anyone on a regular basis.

Besides, Audlink can put your very own voice on your website without all the hassle. Just call their long distance number, record your message and it’ll be automagically uploaded to a compatible web publishing system.

I gotta say, though, that hearing people natter on into their mobiles is annoying enough without the words “dear diary” added into the mix…

Too late for Valentine’s Day, but in plenty of time for the newly-monikered Administrative Professionals’ Day. Featuring Chris Stewart and moderated by Jenn Cutter.

Click here to listen to the MP3 directly; copy this link into your iPodder software to subscribe.

NOTE: You’ll probably hear the echo in the voices of Chris and myself, which strangely wasn’t a problem in the Mac vs. PC debate I did with Al and Jack. If anyone has any pointers for improving my recording setup please send ‘em this way!