Podcasting is really going mainstream, if this story from Joe Mandese of Media Post is any indication:

"In a development that may say as much about the future of radio broadcasting as it does about the future of media audience measurement, Arbitron announced that its new portable people meter (PPM) system could successfully track podcasts. While the ultimate potential of podcasts--listener-generated radio programs distributed over the Internet--may be debatable, the technology is one of a progression of digital media applications that are transforming how, when, and why people listen to the medium, and are requiring both radio broadcasters, and the company that measures their audiences, to become more resourceful."

Apparently, it's now possible to track how often podcasts are played using an MP3 player such as the iPod simply by hooking up a "portable people meter" to the headset. Big broadcast radio companies like Clear Channel and Infinity Broadcasting have already started podcasting, and quite obviously, want a way to track these podcasts once they've been downloaded to an iPod.