iTunes loses podcasts?

Todd Cochrane of GeekNewsCentral posted about some comments he received from several podcasters claiming their shows no longer show up in iTunes searches. I can attest to this as neither the OnTheRun with Tablet PCs nor the jkOnTheRun Audio Edition podcasts are showing up in any iTunes searches as of this past week. The shows were turning up properly in searches until last week when they just dropped off the map. The shows are still available in iTunes but only accessible via a direct link from the outside. It seems to me this goes against the claims Apple made when first launching podcast support in iTunes. Now the only shows that regularly show up in searches are either professional podcasts or commercial ventures. Once again the little guy gets knocked out of circulation which is sad, but usually the case. I'd like to here from other podcasters who have any information to add about this.

Comments

[AVCfan]

The 4Flix.Net video podcast was gone from iTunes' podcast search until yesterday, then it suddenly showed back up. Thought it might be Apple squashing the competition, but I guess not. It's a great way to sample the movie content available for your video iPod from http://www.4Flix.Net They have full-length movies for download (instead of just TV shows and music videos like iTunes), and the price is just $1.99 each. Plus they are DRM-Free, which allows them to be copied to other devices besides your iPod.