It's quite natural that the podcasts have proved to be a smashing success. Seeing that we've gotten used to finding out just about everything that's going on around the world in just a few minutes by surfing the Internet, the possibility of accessing a wide range of information without standing in front of a PC or looking into a cell phone screen is what made the podcasts so popular.

Nothing is simpler than to walk around the park while listening on your favorite iPod (or whatever mp3 player you might be using) the latest news bulletin or the comments of your favorite star, by using some files you've just downloaded with the help of iTunes 4.9.

The fact that Apple has decided to include podcasts in the iTunes gives this technology the same level of acknowledgement the RSS got when Microsoft announced its intentions to include it in the Longhorn.

The podcasts' association to the iTunes service represents the beginning of a content-distribution revolution, especially because Enhanced Podcasts, which will be able to display URLs and even images, are already being prepared.

iTunes 4.9 will also provide some facilities for organizing your favorite podcasts, so it is very likely that in a few months' time we'll witness a real boom of this phenomenon.

And seeing that the iPod sales weren't exactly going as well as expected, this is a very good reason for getting one.