I've got a progress report for several of the major commercial directories/communities in the works. Well, it's in my head but I'll get started on it soon.

Anyway, I've been keeping track of Blubrry since I've got my New York Mets Podcast included in their community. So I've been keeping track via their blog and podcast and checking out their new features. Now many of you might know me as something of a podcast curmudgeon, but let me say this.

Blubrry walks the talk.

When Todd Cochrane says that this is about the podcasters he means it. I can tell that this is so by the fact that Todd and his team have continued to add features and remove bugs from the Blubrry site as promised. I can also tell this from the fact that they have kept the Blubrry site advertisement free while successfully negotiating a pair of ad deals for podcasters in their (I mean our!) community. Way to go Blubrry!

Now I haven't made a dime from Blubrry and really don't expect to. That's fine with me because I love to podcast. I'm more interested in folks building organic communities from the ground up, allowing people to opt in and then sharing the wealth with those people. Some might say I have an agenda but I'm not the only one who like Blubrry's approach. Jon Watson has some good things to say about the vowel-less fruit.

Look, Evan Williams did the whole community a service by debunking the theory that the folks in Silly-Con Valley are the leaders of the podcasting movement. They ain't folks. They're just the ones with the most cash and the highest podium. I welcome their contribution but so far grassroots ventures like LibSyn and Blubrry have made their mark where it counts.