Via Steve Rubel: “In an interview conducted with the Bulldog Reporter (scroll down three-quarters way for the actual piece), New York Times veteran tech reporter John Markoff said that Steve Jobs told him he’s “getting interest from corporations about creating podcasts to reach customers and others directly — without going through [traditional media]. An example might include something like Adobe wanting a podcast for Photoshop users.” Is Apple eyeing corporate podcasting?”

I think it’s obvious where Apple is going with podcasting as integrated in iTunes. They are supposed to be reviewing each podcast for content and legality – as they should – but there’s something about that that also that breaks the “grassroots” movement of podcasting. They banned Chris Rockwell (“The Daily Download“) from the iTunes directory. Nevermind that he is still one of the most popular podcasters out there, and you can subscribe to him manually. So what if his show is done on the crapper? I don’t get quite the warm, fuzzy feeling from Apple on podcasting I thought I would.

The iTunes store features mainly mainstream media repackaged content on the front page now – eschewing all the “indie” podcasts. They also have a “tech” podcasts section which kind of confirms Jobs’ statement in a vague way. But that’s a real disappointment, because the first week it seemed as though they were supporting the indie guys – who are the real new “farm league” of new talent.

For example – I downloaded the “Queer Eye Hip Tips” only to find that they were merely the audio from the already existing “Hip Tips” you hear at the end of every Queer Eye show. They took the audio, strung about 10 together and called it a podcast. Why not get one of those guys in the studio for 5 minutes to give a real commentary on something? The Queer Eye Hip Tips are really pretty worthless.

I just wish they would highlight all the great indie content so that all those new iTunes podcatchers could see what’s out there besides repackaged “morning zoo” content. Not that I don’t like that – now I don’t have to listen to Z-100 just to hear their “Phone Taps”. I’m still a radio geek.

–*Rob

Since a few other folks are doing it – here’s a list of my last played shuffle from my iPod. This was from driving home from work on Thursday:

1 – Bon Jovi – “It’s My Life” – No better way to start the weekend then with screaming at the top of your lungs.

2 – Julie Dawn Cole/Chorus – “I Want It Now” – From the Willy Wonka Soundtrack. Yeah I have some weird shit in my iPod.

3 – Shaggy – “It Wasn’t Me” – This actually brings back memories of my honeymoon, because it was popular then, and everywhere we went in the Caribbean they were playing it like crazy (Shaggy being a dancehall guy and all…)

4 – Des’ree – “Feel So High” – It was her follow up to “You Gotta Be” and it didn’t do nearly as well, but still a nice song.

5 – Sade – “Smooth Operator” – Yeah I let it play without punching through it. It’s not bad, has that swoony, humid, summer day feel to it.

6 – Fountains of Wayne – “Maureen” – this is the first single from their new double CD set “Out Of state Plates”. It is a really fun bit of power pop.

7 – Talking Heads – “Once in a Lifetime” – “same as it ever was…same as it….ever…was…”

8 – The Offspring – “Worst Hangover Ever” – defintely one of the funniest songs they have ever written. I’ve always been partial to their stuff that is borderline goofy, rather then the speed metal-esque stuff.

9 – TeeVee Tunes – “Theme to WKRP in Cincinati” – I put this stuff and stuff like The Simpsons and South Park in my library to keep things light. They are good “palate cleaners” in between other songs.

10 – Collective Soul – “Gel” – never got really big, but a nice rockin’ song nonetheless.

11 – Cornershop – “Brimful of Asha” – these guys are really underrated. The song is so repetitive, but it’s like a trance. I can sing it for hours.

12 – Cake – “Opera Singer” – It took me a while to get into Cake, but once I did I was hooked. They are probably up in my top 3 bands of all time. I can listen to them over and over and never get tired of any song they have.

13 – Phantom Planet – “California” – this is the theme to the TV Show “The OC” – which I will admit is a one of my guilty pleasures to watch. But that’s not why I own all four soundtrack albums. I own them because they have really darn good music. They break bands on the show, as well as playing stuff that really needs to be heard, and would probably be ignored. They don’t fall into the typical TV show thing of playing the latest pop stuff even though it’s a teen drama. Seth Cohen on the show likes “Death Cab For Cutie” and the likes of Ben Folds – which is probably somewhere outside the realm of the typical teen’s musical taste.

14 – Prince – “Alphabet Street” – Gotta love Prince.

15 – “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Your Horoscope For Today” – one of his style parodies – this was done back when the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “Impression That I Get” was causing a very brief interest in rock/ska. I think it’s probably one of his best original songs – it’s funny, but not over the top stupid funny like some other stuff. Ok maybe a little. But it’s spot on stylistically and really fun. And how can you not like a song with the line “Expect a big surprise today when you wind up with your head impaled on a stick”?

–*Rob

Yes, that’s what I said.

Oh I could still acknowledge their existence on occasion – as well as VH1 and MTV2 – the occasional reruns of Beavis and Butthead on MTV2 and stuff like “I Love the 80′s” kept me sometimes tuned into VH1.

But yesterday’s coverage of Live8 was absolutely pitiful. MTV and VH1 were showing the same thing and MTV2 wasn’t doing much better. They actually CUT to COMMERCIAL during the Pink Floyd reunion. Yes, they were in the middle of “Comfortably Numb” and they cut to commercial. The commercials seemed to be endless. Not only that – they only showed coverage from 12 PM to 6 PM Eastern time. So while things has already gotten going in London at 6 AM our time, they were showing NOTHING. It would have been great if they had shown three different feeds, commercial free in the spirit of the shows. Show us what is going on at all ten concert sites. SO what if we don’t know any of the bands in Moscow or Japan! It would still have been awesome to see them!

Nope. Instead they chose to show cut up clips of the Philly and London shows for the most part, and even then – the artists they showed were purely the most popular.

Nothing to do but sit back and lament the state of music programming.

–*Rob

I remember the Live Aid coverage -