LINK EXPIRED
I refuse to purchase an Apple iPod primarily because that company is so proprietary. I have vowed never to load iTunes on any piece of equipment I touch. I am not sure if people have pointed to the incongruity to the ideals espoused back in 1984. Whereas the company may have tried to look like a champion of freedom, they've always been the antithesis of it.
Luckily, most podcasters provide nearly universal RSS delivery. I've recently decided to use Google Reader to manage subscriptions. It is quite a brilliant online app. Of course it's a breeze to listen to my own selection from any computer. This is a clear improvement over separately-loaded aggregator software. Now, if there were some way to auto-download those which I want to carry around in my mp3 player ...