iTunes 4.9: First looks

I've been playing with iTunes 4.9 very briefly. Here's what I've run into so far. There's a new podcasting preference pane. In it are options to schedule how frequently iTunes checks for podcast updates (hourly, daily, weeekly or manually), action to take when new episodes are found (download all, download new only and do nothing) and finally, decide which podcasts to keep (all, unplayed, most recent, or the last 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10).

As of this writing, only a few podcasts appear in the directory, mostly the freebies.* There's also a link in the iTunes Music Store to submit your own podcast for consideration. Still no formal announcement from Apple or blurb on its homepage.

*All seem available now in the U.S. iTunes Music Store