I've found an interesting discussion on Podcasting going on at the Make You Go Hmm blog. The conversation started with a report that Mick Stantic, co-founder of The Podcast Network with Cameron Reilly has walked away from that venture.

The writer continues in his post to discuss the viability of certain business models in Podcasting. The comments get interesting so read more than just the main post.

My thoughts are these. There are no leaders in Podcasting right now. The network is distributed. PodShow is the leader in generating meaningless press. After all, press don't pay the bills for a fancy SanFran office with a kitchen. And neither do link referrals to GoDaddy. Odeo is still trying to find their footing, but at least they're moving their service forward in a meaningful way. Podcast Pickle is my favorite underdog. Their community is kitschy but undeniably vibrant. And they're the only one of the three mentioned here to really embrace video podcasting.

Plus, more comers are getting into the mix. Pluggd just went into Beta. And Podcast.com is now in Alpha mode. Let's not forget that iTunes is still the giant in Podcast distribution. And Yahoo! Podcasts are quietly upgrading their service as well.

So who wins here? Apple has already won in a sense. They had the legacy, benefitted from a friendly name and ran with it early. Yahoo! has the capital to do whatever they want for as long as they want so they will always be there in some form. The rest are left to slug it out in the mud.

Some will be bought by larger players looking to leverage the brand and technology. Some will outright fail. And probably one of the current crop of small players will survive to become something larger.