BadFruit Beats Apple To Market With iTunes Podcasting Plugin

CNET: Apple is scheduled to add its podcast support in version 4.9 of its iTunes software , but it has apparently been beaten to the punch... BadApple is a small piece of free software that expand iTunes interoperability by adding podcast support to iTunes...While there's no official indication of the parent company BadFruit's origin, server logs and similar privacy policies seem to link the site to MP3Tunes.com - the online song store opened a few months ago by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson.

The free software plugin adds a podcast "link" inside of the iTunes Music Store window which you can use to easily browse through categories to find the Podcasts you want...Then it's just a matter of double clicking to load it into your library and subsequently into your iPod...

The plug-in expands the functionality and interoperability of iTunes software and provides seamless access to hundreds of podcasts inside the iTunes shell. Using it is reportedly very easy, similar to adding fonts to Microsoft Word or macros to Microsoft Excel.

The website claims "iTunes is great software, but it would be even better if it interoperates with Podcasts and other media from around the world...The goal is to make iTunes and iPods interoperate with other piles of media." Actually, I suspect the real goal is to prevent any one company from controlling which Podcasts get listed or approved...

Thousands of podcasts are already listed with BadApple and the website states that the list will be updated automatically. All Podcasts currently listed in BadApple are free to download, but surprisingly, BadApple only works on Microsoft Windows computers...