Apple released version 4.9 of its iTunes software this morning. The big news for this release is that podcast subscriptions are now supported. By incorporating this functionality directly into iTunes, Apple effectively renders obsolete a number of other, separate programs designed to perform the exact same task.

Personally, I hadn't even bothered with podcasts until now, mainly because most third party podcasting software seemed to malfunction frequently. Once I downloaded the iTunes update earlier today, however, that all changed. I'm now an official podcast convert.

Subscription #1: The Grateful Dead Hour (RSS feed)

To learn more about podcasting, read Wikipedia's entry on the topic.

Update (11:00 a.m.): Apparently (and predictably) I'm not the only person looking for podcasts this morning. Two notable podcast directory sites (iPodder and PodcastAlley) are currently down, presumably due to heavy traffic.