I think I understand this correctly, but I’d rather ask to be sure…I’ve started a new podcast, and I want to know if I can safely feature music tracks marked "No Derivative Works". I’d be playing the tracks verbatim and simply giving a spoken-work intro and outro. As I understand it, this falls under the "Collective Works" catagory which is safe, since each podcast episode could be considered a periodical-issue and the music is left as-is within it…right?

unfortunately I’m not a lawyer and cc lawyers don’t hang out here so you really can’t rely on answers to questions you read in these forums about that stuff.

On the other hand, cc staff (including legal types) do hang out on this list and answer these types of questions all the time.

sorry bout that,
VS

I found an answer to this (sort-of) by looking at a cross-reference of websites for podcasts featuring CC music. They mostly contain this verbiage or something very close:
Notice: Creative Commons licenses with the NoDerivs 2.0 provision permit the copy, distribution, display, and performance of work, providing that no altering, transforming, or building upon this work is accomplished. Using standard DJ intros, outros and mixing within a podcast or other Internet broadcast does not constitute creating a derivative work.
I’m not sure who first wrote this or how much weight it carries, but the fact that it keeps showing up seems to indicate it carries enough. Or maybe its a sort of wink-and-nod thing, where CC artists graciously allow this sort of use in exchange for the free plug. In any case that’s what I’ve found, and it seems to not be causing any problems…

the operative term being "sort of"

personally, I wouldn’t take legal advice from the web (including this forum). The lead council for CC is an active participant on the lists I point to above. To get the best information and clarifications about applying licenses just hop on that list and ask.