iTunes 4.9 with podcasting available for download -- still no formal announcement

While there hasn't been an official announcement yet, iTunes 4.9 with podcasting support is already available for direct download or via software update on the Mac. However, you won't find any podcasts yet as the directory is currently empty. We'll keep you updated throughout the day as we await the official announcement and details about that "big corporate content partnership."

UPDATE: the podcast directories are coming online now globally — Engadget is the 4th most popular on the US store — c'mon folks…move it up.

[Thanks, Jörg]

[Joseph T. @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Got it a while ago. Seems nice, but yes, no Podcast directory yet. Can't wait to hear the formal announcement this morning and a homepage change. Yeeeeahhhh!

P.S.: July 7th couldn't come any sooner...

[perspikace @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Very good news, what are the other new features of this version ?

[Sauce1985 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Seriously? how'd he beat me to it? dang...

Looks good from what I've seen...

man...i really thought I had this one...

[Anthony Lopez @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Sweet! didnt expect it to come this early. *downloads*

[Oliver @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

the dir isn't empty. go to Movie Trailers, then Soundtracks and you should see a button for Podcasts. There's a bunch already.

[trevor @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

hey...goto advanced>subscribe to podcast to manually subscribe!

[Craig Morey @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

ahh, the joy of apple interfaces. not sure if this works on PC, but on mac you can drag a podcast RSS link from the browser into the itunes podcast list. Alacazam! It works - mmmm, warm engadget podcast straight to itunes...

[Jorge Salvador Caffarena @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

The engadget podcast link is wrong! Get Apple to fix it ;)

[trevor @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

hey...goto advanced>subscribe to podcast to manually subscribe!

[David Haight @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

I still have to use separate Podcasting software because I want my Podcasts in M4B (Bookmarkable) format. Apple still has some things to work out before I solely use iTunes for my iPod.

[teksno @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

well i had trouble with 4.8 builds breaking prefectly unprotecked mp3 files... just for quicktime... no real explanation... so i think ill stick with 4.7.1

sorry engadget... but im still gonna download the podcasts.

[thomas @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

damn, cannot install it in my office... is there a list outside itunes? may somesone send me a screenshot? thomas(at)sammelstelle(dot)net

[Marc @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

I think iTunes support for podcasting is the first step to making podcasting mainstream (which is only a matter of time for such an exciting new medium).

[adam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

damn - i think they just took it offline. One minute I had access - now podcasts has been taken off the menu in the music store. Someone screw up at apple and release this early?

[adam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

nevermind - it is back.... wierd.

[iDriveX @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Nice thing about iTunes is it remembers where you were in a PodCast. Try it out. Start playing one, let it go a few seconds, then go play a song in a playlist. Then go back to the PodCast. It'll start at the same place you left off.

Haven't tried to see if it will sync with the iPod that way like Audio Books do, that'd be very badass.

[Andrei @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Now why are they bundling iTunes with Quicktime? What am I supposed to do if I already have installed Ouicktime 7, but iTunes comes with Quicktime 6? At least give me an option to not install Quicktime... jeez!

[-oJo- @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

neat. too bad i can't seem to drag my current podcasts that live in iTunes into the appropriate folder in the Podcast section. Would hate to have two separate locations for old and new Dawn and Drew shows.

[bwana @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

guys, make engadget podcasts have chapters! that feature rocks man.

[Brian @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Pretty nice integration with iTunes. It is pretty basic at this point when compared to other Podcatching apps like iPodder.

First and foremost, Apple needs to add OPML support so you can easily import your podcast feed list from your current podcatching app.

[Wuddel @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Very nice. Although I do not get why I get so many double podcasts. I get 3 hits from the "german store" when I search for Engadget.

[Justin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

But how are we supposed to breakdance to NPR?! Clearly Apple didn't think this one through.

[DIJ @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

I hoped there would be an option in my Library to show if a song was already on my iPod or not.
I only have a shuffle, so I can't fit all my songs on.

DIJ
http://www.pspscene.co.uk

[010111 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

9.9MB seems a bit hefty to just be adding podcast support. yet the more info in software update didn't mention anything else... hmm.

[Nicole Simon @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

You are not going to tell me that there will be only a per country store chart list??

[brian coates @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

there's a problem w/ the engadget podcast. getting the error:

There was a problem downloading "Engadget Podcast."
The network connection was refused.

[Rob @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Major irritation alert:
To publish a podcast (ie, get a podcast listed) to the music store requires a music store account. There are 20 million (perhaps not all gagging to using iTunes to download podcasts, nevertheless) Australians (hmm, and the rest of the non iTunes Music Store world) that now can't get local content published without asking a friend to put it up online. Just having an Apple ID (which is an annoying nessecity for registering my new powerbook) isn't sufficient to podcast. Damn.

[iDean @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

damnit i cant download it!! Peter contact Apple and demand equal time!

[Yoshi @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

What is the appropriate url for the engadget podcast since apples doesn't work.

[sam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

the Engadget podcast at iTunes was working this morning - I imagine it'll work itself out sometime today, if it's still having trouble

[Peter Rojas @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

This is the correct podcast feed: http://podcasts.engadget.com/rss.xml

I've already contacted Apple to get this fixed!

[Hambo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Engadget is the only podcast that doesn't use it's logo on the "top 100" page. You should bust some balls over there.

[JF @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Why does the Engadget Podcast come up as the name 'Podcast' after you've subscribed?

[Logan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

With the subsequence of my subscription, The Engadget Podcast has moved to the number 3 slot. :p

[Andy Davies @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Is there a list of the new features and fixes anywhere (rather than just the headlines)

Anyone know if they've added support for "Album Artist" yet?
I've got two albums that iTunes can't tell apart because they don't support it, but yet WMP does and so get's it right!

[Tyler @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

What's with this "big corporate announcement", basically when is this going to take place?

[Alan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

I subscribed to Engadget through the Itunes store and it downloads the podcast from 4/8 as the last one. I manually subscribed and it downloaded 6/21...

[Kannon @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

my, god, this is really slow!i can't believe apple would release this as buggy as it is now. i've been downloading the MacCast for the past 10 minutes. it's going, but iPodder could do it in like 30 seconds. THis is ridiculous.

[coleman @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

Why should we bump engadget when you guys still cant even figure out how to properly id3 tag your files?

For a site with such great info, i cant believe that its been 2 months and nobody there can figure out how to name the podcasts right.

[Andrew Ferguson @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

iTunes 4.8 doesn't even recognize that there is a newer version.

"This version of iTunes (4.8) is the current version."

[bwana @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

38, have you tried using ipodder since itunes 4.9 came out? i imagine a lot of the slowdown is due to sites being hammered because of itunes' popularity. i'm quite sure apple doesn't host the actual content, but merely a mechanism to connect you to various sites.

[Thang @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM]

I come from Vietnam