Microsoft Leaving Users Out Of Podcast Explosion
Nov 8th, 2006 | By James Lewin | Category: Audio Podcasting, iPods & Portable Media Players, Podcast Distribution, Podcasting Software, Video Podcasts 
Microsoft appears to be ignoring the exploding world of podcasting, leaving users of its hardware and software products to either manually manage podcasts or to look for third-party solutions.
The most recent version of Windows Media Player 11, just released, still doesn’t have podcast support. There’s no indication that podcast support is planned for future releases.
The Zune portable media system, due later this month, also is notably missing real podcast support. According to Microsoft, Zune users can manually copy podcasts and video podcasts to use them with the portable media player.
“Users can import audio files (like podcasts) in unprotected WMA, AAC, or MP3 format. They could also import video podcasts in unprotected MPEG4, H.264, and WMV formats,” according to a source at Microsoft.
“Once Zune launches, Microsoft will be looking at customer feedback about the scenarios they wish to see enabled with Zune, which could possibly include podcast subscription support.”
via SeattlePI
The closest they’ve gotten is mention that you can listen to things like podcasts on the Zune. At least they are using the word “podcast” and not “netcast”.
I would not buy a portable media device that did not easily handle podcasts. I own a 20 GB iPod that is simply a podcast device now. I bought the large hard drive device to be able to have my CD collection at my fingertips. I did have about 10 GB worth of music stored on it. But, once I started listening to podcasts, my music listening time shrunk considerably. When iTunes ate my music collection about 6 months ago I never put one CD back onto the iPod. I am a voracious podcast listener. iTunes and the iPod handle that well for me.
I cannot believe that Microsoft has gone this long without podcast support in their media player. Any company that is introducing a portable player without software to easily handle podcasts is, in my opinion, instantly dooming their product.
[…] As many of you will know, I listen to a few podcasts. Microsoft has decided that the final version of Windows Media Player (WMP) 11 will not support podcasts. Meaning that you will not be able to subscribe to podcasts (called “podcatching”) using their software. The most popular podcatching software is iTunes. […]