His Mission: Simplify Podcasting (BusinessWeek): "

Odeo co-founder Evan Williams wants his startup to be a one-stop shop, from easily finding podcasts to creating them and selling ads for them

"

IMHO it's not just about people finding podcasts easily. It's about people finding podcasts that they enjoy and want to subscribe to. That doesn't happen based on voting schemes that yield top ten or top fifty lists. It happens when people with like interests have the tools to connect with each other so that they can spread the word about the things that they like. Think del.icio.us. It happens when publishers have the ability to tag content so that subscribers can find what they want based on those tags. Think Flickr. Finally, the content delivered must be wide open so that people can listen anywhere and anytime that they want. Just like you can with podcasts today.

If the folks at Odeo follow those guidelines, then they may very well take this thing to a new level.