Auto makers offering podcast features

A sign.

I got so hooked on listening to podcasts in rental cars with mp3 CD players that I went to a car audio shop yesterday to see what the aftermarket had to offer. When I told them I’d want a unit that allowed fast-forwarding and rewinding within selections (the players in the Ford Foci I’ve been renting only jump from file to file), the salesguy showed me a bunch of Alpine units that do exactly that. Some also support the customer’s choice of Sirius and/or XM satellite radio, rather than just one or the other (imagine a radio today sold with AM or FM, but not both), which is nice.

But dig what happened when I brought up the reason I need fast-forward/rewind: “I listen to a lot of —”

“Podcasts?” he said.

“Right.”

“Yeah, they’re the hot new thing. All the makers are starting to pay attention to podcasting.”