Chairman Steve Jobs said Sunday night that support for the radio-like programs downloaded from the Internet will be included in the next version of the iPod software, iTunes, due within 60 days.

Jobs made his announcement at “D3: All Things Digital,” a technology conference sponsored by the Wall Street Journal in San Diego. His remarks were reported by several technology journalists in the audience.

The Apple chairman was “slightly dismissive of populist programming,” said Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media Inc., a technology publishing company.

“Current plans call for podcasts to be free downloads,” wrote Mena Trott, co-founder of Six Apart Inc., and also in the audience. “Users will submit their podcasts and Apple will be hand picking the content it makes available to iTunes users.”

Before his speech, Jobs also met with Adam Curry, the former MTV disc jockey who has tirelessly promoted creation of radio-like programs for download. Later in his own podcast, Curry reported he was “able to provide a lot of input,” and told Jobs the iPod hardware should also record. “I can guarantee you this is going to happen,” Curry said.

{ via MarketWatch }