Another podcast observation

The new directory in Apple's iTunes lists thousands of podcasts for Mac and PC users to subscribe to, and every one of them has the word 'FREE' next to its 'subscribe' button.

Good job too - most of them suck!

But content is king, so how long before someone has a podcast so good that instead of 'FREE' next to its subscribe info you find '$1.00'. A dollar? To listen to a radio show? Hell no!

But it's not a radio show, is it? It's either entertainment or information, it just happens to use audio to deliver the content.

A dollar for an exclusive interview with Tom Cruise? Fans would buy that. A dollar for pseudo-Bloomberg stock tips? Suckers would buy that.

Maybe a dollar's too much to begin with. How about 25 cents? Your payment goes through Apple, so you're happy enough with the secure transaction. Get 5,000 subscribers paying 25 cents each to listen to your killer content - whatever it is - and you're making $1,250 per podcast.

And, of course, Apple takes a cut of every transaction. That's why they're pushing podcasts in such a big way, because just around the corner could be a serious revenue source.

They already make a fortune from legal music sales, why shouldn't they do the same with 'pick-and-mix talk radio'?