iPod Porn

Add this to the list of things I do not understand. The Howard Stern phenomena has never really resonated with me. I can see the allure of his television show...sort of ("wow, look at those pixels, that's pretty hot"). But Stern is a radio host. "She's naked!" Wow Howard, thank goodness we have you to be able to help all of us use our imagination to fantasize about naked women. Since, that "skill" is desparately lacking in males today. I digress.

If Howard Stern was confusing, this next story is downright impossible to get my head wrapped around. Pod-casting is pretty new and, if the people who determine these things are to be believed, it is hip. On the top of the hip list appears "pod porn". I am not making this up, though I wish I was.

"No matter what the technology is," says Andrew Leyden, founder of podcastdirectory.com, "sex finds a way to get involved."

I'm getting the picture.

At podcast.net, the No. 2 most-searched-for term (right between BBC and NPR) is porn. At Leyden's site, six of the top 20 shows are adult-oriented. And at Apple's behemoth iTunes store, "Open Source Sex" is No. 11 and climbing. From the breathy erotica of "Pod Porn" to the subdued interviews of "SexGeeks," mature programming for the iPod can be titillating, educational or sometimes both, and it is spreading fast.

We have gone mad. Absolutely mad. Can someone please free me from the sexual revolution?

From a rational standpoint, porn makes sense. Morals aside, there is an attraction to looking unseemly things up on the internet. I guess I'm missing the utility of passionate moans in my headphones on my way to class.

At the very least, this should make us all a little bit more frightened of public transportation. That isn't the latest Bruce Springsteen that old guy on the subway is listening to. Sure it's crass, but we're not really sure anymore are we?

Rack up one point for the folks who wish sex were back in the bedroom, or at least, not on the bus. There are some places and some things that should not meet. I would hope we could all agree on that, but the perverts with their iPod's apparently disagree with me. Perhaps there's some sense in the rest of us, but the market has spoken.

Time to sigh and wait for the apocalypse, as per usual.