Wow. I’ve discussed iTunes versus other podcasting services like Odeo before, and at the time I mentioned how any service based on the podcasting business model would have to launch before iTunes in order to get the necessary momentum to survive with such a big competitor.

Boy, was I right on the mark. I’ve finished upgrading to iTunes 4.9 and the new 3.1 software for my 4G iPod, and now I know why Steve Jobs was excited. He was excited not because that’s his way of marketing his ideas, but because he was on to something special. At the WWDC, people saw what he was talking about, but didn’t enjoy the experience themselves, and that makes a lot of difference.

iTunes 4.9 does in fact “just work”. I’ve been browsing the music store (which, unlike most other ipod users, I visited only once or twice before) to check out how they’re doing the podcasting thing, and I’m quite amazed. On a first look, it is an extremely powerful and well designed experience. And the way it works and integrates with the iPod itself is icing on the cake, something other companies will have to try harder to acomplish.

Here’s a few screenshots for those who haven’t seen it yet:

This first one is how the Music Store podcast section looks like. Slick indeed. I like how this integrates so well with the apple look, something that is important to me and many others.

And this is how a show page looks like. On top, you can see a picture related to the show as well as a description for it. On the bottom pane, you’re able to download each particular episode on its own. Pretty standard behaviour.

So this new podcasting service built into iTunes works. I have some concerns about it, like what kind of podcasts will be accepted into the directory (I’ve seen the link to adding a podcast, but haven’t done it yet). On the other hand, for most people with regular music and podcasting tastes, this will work just fine.

For other businesses - and particularly Odeo, which I’ve grown to be very fond of and have mentioned quite a lot in this blog - this may mean trouble. Competing against something as ubiquitous as iTunes is extremely hard, if you don’t push the envelope. Odeo Studio will allow users to create their own podcasts, but until that’s out there and working, I don’t see bright times ahead. I hope I’m wrong, though.

Will I stop using odeo? Probably not, because I like the social aspect of being able to comment shows. However, if that discussion as a social object isn’t able to keep the users on the service, something needs to be done.

You’ve probably heard about the Robot Co-op (fantastic name, great minds) before. And even if you didn’t, maybe you’ve heard of 43Things, their project where people can create lists of stuff they want to do. So now they’re at it again, and this time, with locations. 43Places is their upcoming website for people who’re into, well, going somewhere (naturally).

In my recent discussions about social networks (that I’m exploring a lot lately) I got to the conclusion that locations as a social object haven’t been explored enough (mainly because Plazes isn’t even trying). So I admit i’m curious to see what they’ll be doing. Thumbs up.

If you’re a regular, you’ve probably seen my post about RSS right after Microsoft’s announcement of their new RSS campaign and native support for it on Windows Longhorn. You’ve also seen how I disagree with one specific point of Microsoft’s announcement and blogged about it (see this blog post).

Robert Scoble (Microsofts #1 blogger) assumed from that post of mine, that I’m part of the “crew who thinks Microsoft messed up”. This post is a clarification and collection of thoughts around this topic. Mainly, because I don’t think they “messed up”. I just think they’re doing one thing wrong on their proposal.

So to put it clearly, what Microsoft did right:

• They’re adventing RSS as a life changing technology, and it is.
• They’ve realized how important syndication is and explored it.
• They’ve realized RSS is about raw content that can be used in any application, and that their operating system needed to explore and enhance the experience of the “Subscribe”.
• They are making RSS the new trend on the household and office space, and everybody will benefit from that - even those who’re not using Microsoft platforms

On the other hand, there’s one thing in their announcement that I’m still sceptical about, and that’s their proposal for a way to order lists of items on RSS feeds. It is my personal belief that RSS should be data only, and that organization should be up to the RSS parser (which can be a website, an application, or anything else).

My opinion is fundamented by the fact that syndication is exactly that - extraction of content so it can be transmitted to other people without semantic information: so they can use it as they see fit. I see Microsoft’s proposal as somehow breaking that notion of simplicity by trying to bring order to what should be raw. Still, Phil Rignalda left a comment on my other blog post on this subject that raises some extremely interesting points that justify how the Microsoft proposal could be right in some cases.

So wrapping up, these are naturally opinions based on what was announced. I still am looking forward to seeing what Microsoft is doing with RSS, and hope to realize how wrong I was to think they were doing a bad move adding list semantics. I love to be proved wrong, particularly if its for the benefit of technology.

Like many people, I take my iPod everywhere. However, unlike most I’m usually not playing music but podcasts related to technology, computer science, arts or businesses. So yesterday night I thought: “why not get the readers of my blog to tell me what I should listen to, just for kicks?”. So that’s that, and here’s how it goes.

If you have something you think I should be listening to, be that music, spoken word, your own recorded voice with comments and thoughts or anything else that’s audible, upload it somewhere online, bookmark the URL on del.icio.us with the tag “webreakstuff“, and I’ll listen.

Every day (usually I do this several times a day), I’ll sync up my iPod to the content of that feed, and play it whenever I’m outside the house, in my car, running, or trying to fall asleep. I’ll be creating a webpage specifically to comment on what I’ve heard, so you’ll definitely be getting feedback from me, especially if you’re sending me your ideas, thoughts, comments, words of praise, or a job offer to feed your cats and dogs.

Surprise me! Start uploading and tagging. I’ll be listening. Should be fun enough!