One thing worries me that is not about podcasts themselves but about the podcast delivery ecosystem: a huge share of podcasters use Google's FeedBurner to deliver the podcast RSS feed and get statistics on listeners and subscribers.
Unfortunately, after Google acquired FeedBurner, they basically left it in the state it was in when they bought it, except that they disabled FeedBurner's API a couple of years ago. With Google's history of closing down projects that aren't part of their main focus (including other RSS-related projects like Google Reader), many are worried that Google will soon close down FeedBurner and leave thousands of podcasters in the dark.
That wouldn't be a problem if there were an easy way to migrate from FeedBurner to another platform. Unfortunately, there is not. If FeedBurner closes down, you will have to change to another RSS url, which means losing all your subscribers. Also, there is no practical way of changing the URL to your podcast's RSS in iTunes, the biggest podcast listening platform.[1]
It is possible to be in control of the RSS URL and still use FeedBurner by redirecting an URL on a domain you own to FeedBurner's RSS feed, but I suspect relatively few people have done that, and doing it after the fact means, again, losing all your subscribers.
[1]: According to Apple, you can report the podcast and get them to change the URL. In my experience, they simply never respond to such requests.
If FeedBurner closes down, you'll have months to tell your subscribers to switch URLs. Google doesn't shut down something like this overnight; Reader users had 3.5 months to switch.
W.r.t. iTunes, Libsyn[1] and others say you just have to add a <itunes:new-feed-url> tag to your current feed to make the change. Is this information outdated?
A lot of people subscribe to podcasts through directories spread out though tons of different apps, and you need to get the URL updated in each app. The No Agenda Podcast (with Adam Curry and John C Dvorak) went though this pain a few months back when their old meevio feed was shut down. Despite migrating their main feed years ago lots of directories had the old feed, and dedicated listeners had to find out it was broken in their particular app and report it.
Owning your own domain and routing all your stuff (ESPECIALLY email but also anything else associated with your identity) to is so important these days it's hard to understate it.
Unfortunately, after Google acquired FeedBurner, they basically left it in the state it was in when they bought it, except that they disabled FeedBurner's API a couple of years ago. With Google's history of closing down projects that aren't part of their main focus (including other RSS-related projects like Google Reader), many are worried that Google will soon close down FeedBurner and leave thousands of podcasters in the dark.
That wouldn't be a problem if there were an easy way to migrate from FeedBurner to another platform. Unfortunately, there is not. If FeedBurner closes down, you will have to change to another RSS url, which means losing all your subscribers. Also, there is no practical way of changing the URL to your podcast's RSS in iTunes, the biggest podcast listening platform.[1]
It is possible to be in control of the RSS URL and still use FeedBurner by redirecting an URL on a domain you own to FeedBurner's RSS feed, but I suspect relatively few people have done that, and doing it after the fact means, again, losing all your subscribers.
[1]: According to Apple, you can report the podcast and get them to change the URL. In my experience, they simply never respond to such requests.