Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been demonstrating iTunes 4.9 in a variety of settings. According to this report, dated May 23, 2005, from weblogging giant Six Apart:

"Our co-founder Mena Trott is attending the D: All Things Digital conference, where she just sent word that Steve Jobs did a demo of iTunes 4.9. The big news is, the new version of the popular music management app beloved by iPod owners will feature integrated support for podcasting. Current plans call for podcasts to be free downloads: Users will submit their podcasts and Apple will be hand-picking the content it makes available to iTunes users."

To see and hear Apple CEO Jobs performing a similar demonstration of iTunes 4.9 at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (Apple WWDC 2005), in a QuickTime video clip, click here.

A day earlier, in a report on the O'Reilly Radar web site entitled "Podcast support in next version of iTunes," by Tim O'Reilly, the innovative computer book publisher says that "Steve Jobs tonight showed ipodder-like features in the next release of iTunes, supposedly available within about 60 days" and went on to talk about "paid podding" and "video podding."

In reference to making iTunes available over cell phones, O'Reilly wrote:

"Jobs also spoke about the prospect of iTunes on phones, and the difficulties of working with the carriers, saying something like: 'As you know from our limited success at getting our computers into the Fortune 500, Apple's never been very good at going through corporate orifices in order to get at the end users. And if we can't do it with 500 companies, you can imagine it's even harder when there are only four.'"

Entertainment Technology World wanted to see just how hard it was, and so yesterday contacted Sprint, found the appropriate media relations spokesperson (Jackie Bostick), and asked about the possibility of Apple iTunes being distributed over the Sprint PCS Vision network.

The Sprint spokesperson's initial response focused on her assertion that iTunes and Sprint use different proprietary digital rights management (DRM) schemes to protect the integrity of their media content. Asked if this were the principal obstacle to offering iTunes over Sprint PCS, the telecommunications giant's spokesperson replied that "we have music on our phones today."

Ms. Bostick explained in detail the "pyramid" of multi-media content available to Sprint PCS Vision service subscribers on suitably-equipped cell phones connected to the Sprint PCS network

Asked again about the possibility of adding iTunes or other content providers to those already available to Sprint PCS Vision subscribers, the cell carrier spokesperson told Entertainment Technology World that the Sprint PCS Vision Business Development Group was "always evaluating new partners."

She added that the revenue sharing arrangements for such hypothetical partnerships would "depend on the content."

"We are developing music services that can be enjoyed by a mass market," she said. "We are developing music services that can be enjoyed by a mass market," she repeated.

A look at the multi-media content offerings from Sprint's PCS Vision service will reveal an array of the really-challenging and life-changing weather, sports, and "news" features that have already done so much to create for most Americans an environment that is economically-secure, culturally-stimulating, ecologically-sustainable, and well-respected throughout the world.

Plans are now underway to gain iTunes podcasting status for the distinctive media content produced here on the Etopia Media News Network, and especially the content now being showcased on the new Etopia Media Live! web site in order to enhance even further the audio and video offerings available to media consumers everywhere. You can help bring this about by telling your cell phone provider, "I want my Etopia Media Live! Podcast from iTunes."