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If you are familiar with Audible.com (audio-books) or if you listen to any podcasts, you really should check out the debate surrounding Audible's recent announcement. It's really turned into a very passionate discussion, in large part due to some of the comments that Mitch Ratcliffe (an Audible consultant) wrote about on his blog. You can read Mitch's original post here (that set of the firestorm). In it, he opines about the current and future state of podcasting, and he manages to ruffle a few feathers as well.

Audible.com is trying to woo podcasters with its "wordcasting" technology, which would allow for hosted/ad-supported podcasts and auditing of listenership (using audible's .aa file format). I can't imagine that this is the way that audible really wanted to start things off, but then again, I really doubt that Mitch thought his comments would spur this type of debate. To his credit, Mitch has ensured that when his argument is critiqued, he has a reasoned response.