David Carr in the NY Times does a good job of putting podcasting into perspective. It has certainly made audio recordings more univerally accessible, but it’s not a very interactive medium. And you should try On the Media–it’s a great program.

Big Media Wants a Piece Of Your Pod – New York Times (registration required)

Podcasting is also frequently described as an audio version of blogging, but it is essentially a delivery system that has none of the interactivity and dynamism that make blogging such a compelling and viral form of publishing. As in radio, they talk and you listen. Podcasting merely gives consumers the opportunity to time-shift and listen at their convenience.

In some instances, the impact has been profound. "On the Media," a media analysis program produced by the New York public radio station WNYC, has been podcast-friendly since January. They have picked up almost 40,000 new listeners a week, the equivalent of adding a major American city to their distribution.