While satellite radio will always have limited appeal due to the monthly charge, podcasting offers a free way for you to create your own radio station on the fly each day, listening when you want. Satellite radio services have been loathe to allow people to record their programs due to copyright concerns. XM Radio threatened legal action against the maker of TimeTrax software, which lets users record satellite shows on MP3s.

But Reuters reported that XM is planning its own TiVo-like devices soon that will allow users to pause and rewind live satellite broadcasts. Plus XM has a deal for streaming its programming onto the next generation of TiVo television recorders.

Still, podcasting goes much further, giving listeners full control over what they listen to, depending on the available RSS feeds. Basically, you need a portable MP3 player -- not necessarily an iPod -- Apple's free iTunes software, and the new iPodder software. The latter is an open source application, birthed by Adam Curry, the former MTV VJ, blogger and serial entrepreneur now based in Amsterdam.

Curry runs the iPodder site, which includes a nascent directory of podcasting feeds with everything from music to news to audiobooks. So far, the selection is weighted to technology radio shows, and it sometimes seems as if a small group of people are just listening to each other.

"So this morning, here in my hotel room, I listened to the latest edition of Adam Curry's Daily Source Code, Dave Winer's Morning Coffee Notes about the open-sourcing of Frontier, and a conversation between Adam and Dave about all the above, iPodder, Trade Secrets Radio and much more," wrote Doc Searls in his Weblog about his new fascination with podcasting.