A software plug-in for the iTunes Music Store adds a utility to find and download podcasts.
Apple Computer, via its well-known CEO Steve Jobs, have been talking up podcast support recently. Mr. Jobs, talking at the D: All Things Digital conference, demonstrated a version of iTunes that contains a podcast directory and enables one-click subscription to a particular podcast.
Version 4.9 of iTunes will contain that functionality. But it looks like someone didn’t want to wait quite that long for Apple to make the new features available. A company called BadFruit has announced an iTunes plug-in that will enable those features in iTunes today.
The site makes it clear this project is very unofficial. “BadApple is NOT from the Beatles. It’s also not from Apple Computer Inc. It’s definitely not endorsed or approved by Apple. In fact, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t want you to use BadApple,” says a disclaimer on the site.
BadApple is free software, but it comes from an unknown source. The person or people behind BadFruit are staying anonymous for the time being. Only an e-mail to a Gmail.com address has been made available for contact.
The domain was registered through GoDaddy.com. A whois lookup reveals the site was registered by a Scottsdale, AZ company called DomainsByProxy.com.
The shadowy podcast fan or fans who created BadApple claim to be fans of the iPod and iTunes. “My hope is that BadApple make iTunes even more useful and sells even more iPods,” says the mysterious programmer, who also would like to see iTunes better support podcasts and other media from around the world.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
