According to new research by the Diffusion Group, the number of podcast users in the U.S. will increase nearly 15 fold over the next five years, reaching 60 million by 2010.
The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg says that “Apple has made receiving podcasts as simple as downloading music. The bad news is that neither Apple nor anyone else has made it nearly as simple to create a podcast and get it online as it is to create and post a text and photo blog.
Until that happens, podcasting won’t be truly mainstream.”
Apple has posted a support document that says Smart Playlists on Click Wheel iPods may stop updating dynamically after applying iPod Updater 2005-06-26.
Target is reportedly ready to launch a digital music service similar to iTunes (single-track music downloads) but will also offer monthly subscription plans.