iTunes lists first pay-for-play podcast
updated 04:20 pm EST, Tue February 21, 2006
iTunes charges for podcast
Apple's iTunes Music Store today listed the first pay-for-play podcast, charging users $10 to download the 20-episode audio book of Scott Sigler's EarthCore. The series is the world's first "podcast-only" novel, and was published in March of 2005 as a free weekly serialized audio book podcast, according to vnunet.com. The series drew 10,000 subscribers, and was published as a print novel by Dragon Moon Press. Mike Warden, owner of Conquer The World Records recognized the podcast as "really cutting-edge stuff," and decided to take action. "I started listening to the book and I couldn't put my ears down, so to speak," Warden said. "I enjoyed the science and the suspense of the story, but Scott puts so much passion in the way he vocalized the characters of his own book. He's like a punk rock author; he just did everything himself."
