I’m pleased to announce that NewsFire 1.1 is now available as a beta download. This is a beta release, so all the usual caveats apply.

The changes are pretty straightforward, actually – NewsFire 1.1 is all about podcasts. While 1.0 supported podcasts/audio enclosures using an embedded QuickTime widget, version 1.1 builds on a substantially enhanced download and play mechanism that can essentially be described as a fusion of an iTunes/QuickTime player interface with a Safari-esque download window (see: screenshot). The great thing is that this podcast functionality is largely kept out of the main window and thus does not pollute the primary news reading experience.

To complement the enhanced podcasting features, NewsFire now includes an “Audio” tab in the search pane, allowing you to quickly and effortlessly find audio content across the blogosphere.

On an unrelated note, NewsFire 1.1 has changed the restrictions in place on unregistered versions. Newsfire 1.1 no longer has an absolute launch limit – that is, you can run it unregistered forever, if your conscience allows that sort of freeloading. In exchange for this generously relaxed condition, nags are more frequent and feed limits more stringently enforced. This is, of course, an attempt to keep NewsFire accessible to the largest audience, while still providing strong incentives for people to register. It goes without saying that registration not only gives the user the best possible experience, it is the only way that future development of NewsFire can be funded.