SolidSpace has announced that new features have been added to SolidCasts, a business-centric enterprise podcast management system for both audio and video.

SolidCasts is a free, easy-to-use multi-platform, cross-format system that offers:

• Secure Password Protection- Businesses can arrange for podcasts to be released in a secure environment.
• Futurecasting- Users can arrange podcasts to “go live” at a programmed time.
• Authoring Tools- SolidCasts let users attribute a podcast to another author.

Mastro Auctions recently began using SolidCasts to create a more dynamic auctioneering process. With items ranging from Elvis’ hair to Rosa Parks’ bus, podcasting offers collectors an in-depth look at items up for bid, more effectively illustrating the true nature of the items than still photos.

For example, Mastro Auctions sold the Cook County gallows during a recent auction that utilized SolidCasts. Due to the item’s uniqueness, podcasting gave bidders a better understanding of what the gallows entailed, leading to its purchase by Ripley’s Believe It or Not for $68,000.

“Broadband is finally at the point where people can sufficiently stream video to their desktops,” said Doug Allen, president of Mastro Auctions. “Also, people are now truly using their iPods as a business tool. We have found that an overwhelming number of collectors are subscribing to RSS feeds, automatically receiving video highlights of the latest items that have been added to the next auction, and placing higher bids than ever before. We directly attribute this success to SolidCasts and look forward to watching this trend grow.”

SolidCasts provides simplified file uploading, analytics in areas such as downloads and subscription counts and is also one of the only podcast management and hosting providers that supports video podcasts in MPEG-4 and MOV formats. Podcasts are hosted by SolidSpace and then SolidCasts generates a simple line of code that users can publish to their Web site or blog. Site visitors are then able to subscribe to RSS and iTunes feeds of the podcast episodes. SolidCasts also allows users to assign iTunes categories to their podcasts and easily submit the feed to be included in the iTunes Directory.

SolidCasts is free for the first 100 MBs and for $12.95 per month users can have access to 1 GB of space.