Today began with Jason Calaconis, the CEO of weblogs, presenting a keynote on podcasting business models.

According to Jason, podcast directories and podcast search are already game over with Yahoo, Google,etc taking over any chance of a business here. Podcast Networks may have a chance, but ulitimately its the talent that counts so keeping great talent in a podcast network will be key to success. If you’re thinking of running a podcast network, get the podcasters under contract for a long time. Podcast software and hosting are better opportunities if you can solve some real pain point. Jason also thinks that if someone can beat Google’s adsense to build a podcasting advertising model there may be a big business in there somewhere. Jason ultimately sees the best model as the podcasters. Be the next Howard Stern and you don’t have to worry about the business model.

Leo Laporte, the tech radio host and podcasters, followed Jason. Leo advised not to worry about the business model. Instead, he advised that you focus on your passion. Passion based podcasters will rule. Leo’s rules for a great podcast follow Maslow’s heirarchy. Truth, goodness, beauty, unity, aliveness, uniquenesss, simplicity, richness, effortlessness, playfulness, meaningfulness. In short, passion.

Next stop the Video Without Boundaries booth to look the FlyBoy portable media device. Good looking video player that will hold 40 hours of video or hold 370 hours of music. 3.5 inch screen with built in speakers. Priced at $349 it looks like a great gadget. Their media server device looks even more interesting. A 160 GB hard drive, two mic in leads, network card enabled, DVD player and PVR all wrapped into one device that allows you to replace your tivo and not pay monthly fees. Definitely worth looking at in more depth when time allows.

Representatives from Whirlpool, BMC Software, Disney and the US Treasury discussed podcasting as a business marketing tool. All the panelists were very pleased with the results they’re getting from their podcast. Looks like every company who has a website should be thinking about getting into podcasting.

John Furrier, JD Lasica and Eric Rice discussed How Citizen Media is Changing the Face of Traditional Media. Podcasting is leveling the playing field between big media and the people. Anyone can podcast and be as big and big media. JD Lasica also explained OurMedia.org a not-for-profit entity that provides free storage and bandwidth. If your looking for free storage and bandwidth, OurMedia.org is worth checking out. Eric Rice from AudioBlogs.com, focused on the value of consuming media when he wants. Eric enjoys producing his own content and says “I make media and you can’t stop me.” The dropping of production and distribution barriers is what’s disrupting traditional media. Eric provided the example of everyone making a one minute video about their community and the disruption that would cause to traditional travel media.

Next up a session from the Playlist Magazine panel including Paul Griffin – Griffin Technology, Chris Breen – Playlist Magazine, Leo Laporte – Leoville.com, Dan Frakes – MacWorld Magazine. First up a discussion on what it’s like to be an iPod accessory maker. Paul Griffin says that they are iPod fans and make stuff they want to add to thier iPods. It’s been a great business, but it is somewhat risky given Apple’s innovative and secretive nature.

For the new 5G iPod, Griffin is working on a microphone adaptor that will fit into the dock connector. Look for it early next year.

Leo Laporte described how his podcast is able to generate $10,000 per month from subscribers donating $2 per month. He also discussed the desire to sell his TWIT video via iTunes, but Apple is just not there yet. He described how they will not take ads, but will look to develop affliate relationships and merchandising. He wants to disintermediate and not have advertisers involved.

The panel speculated that Apple may be setting podcast subscribers up to create a two teir system for podcasters. A paid tier and a free tree. Once they get people hooked on podcasts to podcasts they promote, maybe they move to a paid model for those podcasts.

Paul Griffin was asked if podcasting as a media is now a viable advertising channel. He says that it is now, but was’nt six months ago. He thinks that Griffin will advertise on podcasts within the next year or two.

(side note: Colette Vogele writes in her blog about a session on Music in Podcasts – the short answer Just Use Podsafe Music)

The panel diverged into how get noticed in iTunes. In a discussion about getting featured in iTunes, it was observed that great art/images in their format really help.

Back on topic, the panel turned to a discussion of gear. Dan Frakes discussed some of the newest trends, in particular getting your iPod to play everywhere – your car, your stereo, portable speakers. Leo describe the Musica media server as something worth checking out.

Some new services I found on the exhibit floor that should be checked out.

1. Taldia provides a really interesting new service that allows you to get a personnalized news feed of AP content. You can get a 14 day free trial of the service. After that it’s $4.95 per month.
2. Audible Wordcast is a very interesting new service that Audible previewed at the show. Wordcast allows podcasters to use Audible’s extensive functionality to market, sell and manage your podcasts. If you’re interested in selling your podcast – it looks like it’s worth checking out
3. Logo Your Audio allows you to create custom mp3 player using your logo. A great gift – you can even preload your podcasts on your gift.
4. Webcast in a Box is an enterprise podcasting solution, mostly focused on the education sector. The company lists CNN, Intuit, US Nave, University of California, Berkeley and 17 other universities. They provide a podcast server and system to allow direct feeds of podcast content right from the classroom into the podcast server.