"saying you don't need to own/run servers for things like a podcast is just pissing money into the wind." - that's probably true. i may end up doing something like your suggesting in the future. right now, the streaming side of things is not something i want to concern myself with. i have other things that need my attention.

linode's $160/mo plan would cover me for a while. i'm transfering around 4TB a month right now, and that would cover 16TB.

thanks for the feedback and suggestions! this is something i'll need to keep in mind in the near future.