iBanjo

Apple has finally caught onto the popularity of podcasts. A podcast is similar to a weblog — instead of amateur journalism articles being posted to a web page, it’s an amateur radio show posted a series of mp3 fies. Both blogs and podcasts are syndicated through RSS feeds, and can be “subscribed” to through aggregation programs that automatically download the latest broadcasts.

In any case, Apple just released iTunes 4.9, which now has the ability to subscribe to podcasts. After installing, I searched the podcast directory for “bluegrass” and found a radio show released by the Bluegrass Preservation Society. It’s basically one guy in the mountains of West Virginia who records local bluegrass bands and narrates a show around them. The music is fantastic. And the guy has a nice cat named Buster, who he claims runs the booth controls for him!

As requested on his radio show, I sent the guy an email, letting him know he had a new fan in Chicago, and he wrote back a really nice response. I recommend you download an episode of his radio program, it’s great stuff.