[Dave Winer] and [Adam Curry] had noodled with podcasting for years. But things didn't catch fire until Curry, a self-described Apple Mac guy and novice programmer, took a stab last July at writing a program he dubbed iPodder that could automatically download podcasts to his iPod.

Having sold 10 million iPods, Apple commands 90% of the market for MP3 players with hard drives. Last month, it introduced the $500 Mac mini, its first economically priced computer, which comes with entry-level music-recording and mixing software, called GarageBand, which many podcasters are using to produce shows. Podcasters would like nothing better than for Apple to supply recording and mixing software specifically designed for podcasting on Mac computers. They would also like to see the iPod tweaked to make it easier to do such things as subscribe to a podcast and fast-forward through programs.

Pioneer: Podcaster Adam Curry credits the blogging grapevine for igniting interest in podcasting. People caught wind, and it just went like wildfire." Growth spurt: Adam Curry produces one of his podcasts from his home outside London. "Before you know it, I had people creating their own podcasts, sending me clips, and it kind of grew from there."