While I was talking to Zac Voss for the story about pilots elsewhere in this issue, he was nice enough to introduce me to the future.

I’ve been thinking about podcasting, and wondering why anyone would want to add a new layer of organization to our well-packed American lifestyle. But when Zac describes it, a podcast-based lifestyle almost makes sense.

The future according to Zac: You download free iTunes software — which can go onto a Macintosh or Windows computer, if you’re so primitive that you don’t own an iPod. Click the podcast button and you’ll find some OK stuff, but then go to the search window and type in what you really want to find.

With regular weekly podcasts and some special features here and there, you can feed your brain the way it deserves to be fed. Instead of listening to whatever song a radio programmer has instructed the local DJ to play, or catching the last minute of a National Public Radio interview that sounds like it might have been quite interesting, you chart your own course.

Two things about Zac: He drives (and flies) a lot more than most people, as he rules over a statewide soft drink empire, which gives him time to listen. And he seems to have more interest in acquiring knowledge than the average mope on the street.

He’s not all work and no play; he has a selection of tunes in his iPod. But he also makes a point of listening to things such as a regular safety feature for pilots; the NPR business story of the day; a BBC daily business digest; NPR’s weekly health and science recap; and a video podcast about sailing.

So as he drives to Davenport or lifts weights in his basement, he’s stuffing his head with knowledge and ideas at the same time.

I’ve been keeping track of the slow progress of satellite radio, thinking it’s sure to take off and be the biggest thing since color television. Then Zac put podcasting in perspective like this: by using it, he figures he has already vaulted past satellite radio.

Suddenly I was glad that I had already sold my XM Satellite Radio stock.

In a survey done nearly a year ago, the Pew Internet and American Life Project estimated that more than 6 million Americans were listening to podcasts, which didn’t really get going until 2004.

The NPR podcast directory alone lists choices ranging from book reviews to movie reviews to Frank DeFord’s sports commentaries to something called “Ratcast: Wine Tales from the Cellar Rat.”

If your early radio thrill was managing to pull in John Records Landecker on Chicago’s WLS, this is a very different world.

There’s still the question of whether humans were meant to control every moment of their lives or basically go along for the ride. But run a quick mental review of your radio experiences – the annoying commercials, the stupefying DJ chatter, the almost criminal neglect of The Who on oldies stations – and you might be willing to give it a shot.

It’s easy, says Zac; so easy that we’re just now at the point where too many people are becoming podcasters. “Some of them, you can tell it’s a guy in his garage,” he said. “The first week he’s all excited, then he gets to week two and says, ‘this is harder than I thought, so I’m quitting.’”

But once again we’re trailing the pack in Central Iowa. Zac often searches for Des Moines-area podcasts. The only one he finds is the sermon from Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ.

So when you get your podcast up and running, let us know. Zac says all you need are good microphones and a 12-year-old to show you how.