Comment I don't think anyone has mentioned Subsonic yet (Score 1) 317
I use subsonic (subsonic.org). It's cross platform (linux, windows, mac, android, ios, anything with a web browser and flash) and supports auto podcast downloading. You can also use it for video.
The only caveat is that it doesn't sync to an ipod. There are multiple desktop clients to choose from and I haven't seen one yet that will sync to an ipod. If you have an ipod touch you could use one of several different apps.