If you wander through the virtual aisles of the iTunes Music Store, browsing the selections, you'll see more than a few folks who have (or currently are) distributing their books as podcasts. Hey, I'm all for whatever works, and I'm betting one or two of these folks might parlay their podcasts into other ventures. That's the fun of living on the edge.

Last week, I also pointed you toward a free audio download of Robert Liparulo's Comes A Horseman. I watched the book's Amazon rankings during the week, and the audio download seemed to help the book's rankings--it broke into the top 1000 for a good part of the week.

Meanwhile, MJ Rose, at her Buzz, Balls & Hype blog, recently posted a passionate rant about audiobooks. She makes several good points, and I'm with her. I spend a fair amount of time in my car, and "read" at least one book a month as an audiobook. (Always rented from my library or local Hastings bookstore, though--who wants to plunk down $50 for an audiobook? All of which is the main point MJ makes at the excellent post you've already read by now. What? Haven't read it? Here's another chance.)

This week, author Joe Nassise's The Heretic has become the first book from a mainstream publisher to be offered for free, unabridged, as a podcast.

The intersection of audiobooks and the iTunes/podcast revolution is frankly too big to be ignored. I think we'll be seeing some things happen on this front in the coming year.

Either that, or I'll look back at this post a year from now and say, "What the heck was I thinking?"