On one of last week’s installments of “For Immediate Release,” Neville and I kicked around the idea of video podcasting. Today, Om Malik reports that a product has been launched that lets you use the brand-spanking-new Sony PSP to do just that.

The Sony PSP, the Game Boy-killer handheld gaming system available in stores this week, is configured to play music and videos in addition to games. Malik, writing in his Om Malik on Broadband blog, introduces PSP Video 9, a product from Sajeeth Cherian, who also developed a user-friendly BitTorrent client:

It will take any video and turn into a format that PSP can read. So now you can download videos using Videora, and then convert them to PSP friendly format within a few seconds. Thats right! Videora will seek out the video you want using RSS, download it to your PC using BitTorrent and PSP Video 9 will take this video, convert it to the PSP video format and copy it to your docked PSP, all while you are asleep.

Cherian has dubbed the process PSPcasting. Malik loves the idea:

Podcasting, so 2004! But more seriously, this could really help PSP lovers get more value out of their devices. Imagine watching Alias whole riding the subway to work!

There’s no question that I gotta have one of these things, but will it have a huge impact on podcasting, which itself is still in its infancy? I doubt it. For those who take the subway or other transportation, it sounds great (if you don’t mind watching your favorite show on a 4:3-inch screen. But what about drivers? As I noted on last week’s show, I worry about people watching video-casts while driving to work.

In fact, it’s generally easier to listen to something than watch something. I can listen to podcasts on the treadmill, walking the dog, puttering around the house. To watch a video I have to stop whatever else I’m doing and give the video my full attention. So no, I don’t think PSPcasting will nudge out podcasting. But since you’ll be able to listen to podcasts on your PSP, it certainly makes the PSP a tempting alternative to the iPod and PSPcasting a nifty supplement to podcasting. God knows I spend enough time on planes and catching up on missed episodes of “24” would be just fine with me.