ZuneIt has long been said that once Microsoft gets into the podcasting game, it will spark a second huge surge of growth. When Apple jumped into the game with iTunes 4.9 in late May, 2005 podcasting went from the world of plugged-in geeks to the mainstream. While iTunes has become a very popular application, it’s users primarily have Macs or iPods. This is certainly a significant number, but it leaves out the wealth of listeners that only use a PC and do not have an iPod. Windows still rules the roost when it comes to operating systems, and Windows Media Player is used more than iTunes.

Today… news that Microsoft is adding long awaited podcasting support to the 2nd generation of the Zune (article from Whizbyte). While Microsoft has long acknowledged podcasting (even accepting the term “podcasting”, they have been slow to bring it to the masses. While the Zune does not use Windows Media Player or Media Center, it marks another step to that golden moment when the Microsoft springboard launches podcasting to a new level.