Auto updating podcasts?

Is there a way to update podcasts in the background? iTunes has the option to "check for new episodes every hour" but I don't wanna keep iTunes open 24 hours a day.

I was hoping for some little background service that could do it. I only open iTunes every few days.. then have a flood of 9 or 10 podcasts coming down the pipe. I wish they could update on their own without having to open iTunes.

The only easy thing I can think of is to launch iTunes and hide it. (command h) That way it'll do it's thing in the background whenever. But you still have to remember to launch it.