New car models are coming equipped with a jack for the iPod.

First, it’s not a question of whether people will listen to podcasts. The medium is less than two years old and has in excess of 10 million listeners. As new tools make it easier to subscribe, more people will listen.

Podcast Alley has more than 20,000 podcasts in its index. So, you haven’t enjoyed the ones you’ve listened to. I suspect somewhere in those 20,000 there are a few you would enjoy. Part of the appeal is niche content that you can’t get through mainstream radio. My podcast deals with public relations and corporate communications, a topic you’ll never find a radio station embracing as a recurring show. But we (my co-host and I) have enough listeners to make it worth our while to continue doing the show (we’ll record our 150th on Thursday).

There are podcasts on wine, child-rearing, coffee, paramedics, knitting, barbecue and disc golf, to name a very, very few. If one of these topics interests you, you may find the podcast appealing, particularly if the hosts are enthusiastic, the content is worthwhile, and the production values don’t suck. Other podcasts introduce you to new “podsafe” music you’ll never hear anywhere else — and there are a lot of non-RIAA artists out there making tremendous music.

Here’s another example. If you ever listen to NPR’s “All Things Considered,” you know that they play a few seconds of music between segments. For years, people have perked up and said, “That’s a great piece of music! What is that!” NPR had so many requests, they’ve started a daily podcast in which they play each of those tunes in their entirety. It’s incredibly popular! NPR, in fact, has had such success with its podcasts that it is now in phase 3 of its podcast strategy with more than 350 podcasts available. (What do they get that you don’t?)

As for the young lady riding the Green Line? Music is fine for a while, but the more time we spend with those buds in our ears, the hungrier we get for alternative content. Podcasts (the ones we like, not all of them) supply it.

I think it may be the same reason a large number of people TiVo their favorite TV shows, when they could catch the same shows on their favorite TV channels?

At the moment, I feel, all that podcasting does is provide an additional content consumption channel for early adopters. I believe podcasting may break into the mainstream if we stumble upon a viable way to monetize it.

Thanks for raising some interesting points.

-Mario