I own an iPod. I just got it a little over a week ago and I freaking love it. There are so many reasons why it’s the best thing ever. That’s not really what I want to talk about hear. What I want to talk about is a little app called iPodder. It’s basically a blend of TiVo and RSS.

For those of you who don’t know, RSS is an XML format (like HTML) that is designed to allow a computer program to collect data from websites and present it to you the way you like. More specifically, RSS feeds generally list new articles on a blog or news website. Programs exist that will read the RSS files that you specify and list all the updates in one place. Maybe my description is not great, but the idea really is. I can open up my web browser, and find out what’s new on all the sites I regularly read on one page.

Some people are doing really creative things with this format. For example, Netflix now offers RSS feeds of new releases as well as my queue. Someone else, Adam Curry seems to have had a hand in it, came up with the idea of putting links to audio files in these RSS feeds.

What exactly does all this mean? Well, first of all you do not need an iPod to use iPodder. This technology allows anyone to have their own audio show. There are quite a few shows already online and many of the one’s I’ve heard are quite good. What happens is, you pick your shows. You tell the iPodder software which shows you want to listen to and it will automatically grab those audio programs and add them to your audio library.

If you have an iPod or one of the competing porables, you can have these audio programs automatically synced onto your device. You really have to use the software to find out how cool it really is. So, go now. Grab the software. Subscribe to “Daily Source Code” and “Rock and Roll Geeks” and spend the week with id. Adam Curry puts out a new Daily Source Code most weekdays at least. Spend your morning listening to something interesting on the way to work, instead of listening to commercials. Listen to radio broadcasts from around the world. Listen to an audio blog that your buddy makes. Just don’t spend another day listening to crap because there’s nothing else. Listen to what you want, when you want.

If you’re interested in creating your own podcast, blogware.com has an article on how to get started.