certainly a way to sort out the good content (Score 1)

i think ricky is going to find out EXACTLY how popular he is when fans are forced to pay for his podcast. there are a ton of podcasts i listen to but i have to say that few, if any, of them i would pay for on a long term basis. i would just switch to the inevitable posers/copiers/wannabees/better-than-the-originals to show up and fill the void for free. personally i see podcasting as a single part of a brand building campaign to drive people to a subscription model for say extended or unedited postcasts or a subscription website with extra content or a newsletter etc etc. frankly i think the sponsership model for podcasts is the real end game here not subscriptions.