Podcasting is certainly getting a lot of attention. Steve Rubel reports that publications like the LA Times have picked up the story and started to run. Dan Gillmor, technology columnist for the San Jose Mercury News has also covered it.

I was struck by the voice-of-reason approach taken by David Coursey in eWeek, who wonders if podcasting is “blogging for people with even larger egos, folks who think they need to be heard as well as read.” But then he notes that the potential for podcasting goes well beyond its current (admittedly nascent) uses. “For example,” he writes,  “XM Radio has a new program featuring former NPR host Bob Edwards. But it’s on at inconvenient times for me to listen. Wouldn’t it be great to have the program automatically loaded onto a portable player each day?”

Indeed it would. This approach would require producers of audio content to redefine the business they’re in. Currently, they see themselves in the radio (or satellite radio) business, but for podcasting of this nature to take root, they’ll have to see themselves as deliverers of audio content regardless of the channel through which it’s delivered. This shift also requires them to identify profit models that accommodate alternate channels. In XM’s case, it’s pretty easy—only subcsribers have access to podcasts, presumably through a login/password scheme. AM and FM broadcasters could simply keep the paid advertising that’s part of the broadcast in the podcast. Or they could come up with a way to charge for access.

I already do this with Audible. I’ve listened to more books on the treadmill that I never would have been able to read thanks to the ability to download the books for a monthly fee. I honestly don’t know how many of the current podcasts interest me, but when Bob Edwards’ show is available as an RSS feed/download to my iPod, I’ll be there.