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Apple Offers New Dedicated Podcast App for iOS

Wolfpup said:
Dumb question, but how's it use offline storage, like does it actually store all the podcasts or something? Does that work on iOS too?

At any rate, that's darned impressive!
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Thank you very much :)

I use it on my IPhone, I recommend Adding to home screen for easy access, and it even works minimized and with other browser tabs open, and the remote on my car stereo or headset wire can even be used to pause the thing.

It stores some stuff in localstorage, like the thumbnails, titles etc. of your "My Podcasts". Everything else it fetches from my server, which is essentially a webcrawler, which can search google, bing and some other sources of Podcasts... It does not crawl all of these for every search, but is kind of a learning program, which gradually grows it's caches for faster and better retrieval and verification of Podcasts...

Hope this clears it up a bit... As i mentioned, the project is like one month in, so i expect it to improve a lot over the following months, and any ideas for improvements, or constructive criticism is VERY welcomed!
 
so i'm running the iOS 6 GM and podcasts are still in the Music app just as before...i thought that section was going to be removed to make you download the podcasts app? I'm glad because I hate that app, but this was a change I didn't see mentioned anywhere today.
 
Lopes said:
so i'm running the iOS 6 GM and podcasts are still in the Music app just as before...i thought that section was going to be removed to make you download the podcasts app? I'm glad because I hate that app, but this was a change I didn't see mentioned anywhere today.
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Well that's promising! Anyone know for sure? There were I guess a lot of changes shown today versus what people have, soooo...

This remains THE make or break feature for me. The #1 thing I do on my iPod, and the #1 area no one else can touch...Apple's 2005 support beats Google and Microsoft's 2012 support...unless we're forced to use that horrific podcasts program.

Web browsing I can probably do better on Android, if anything (three browsers versus 1), mail's probably similar/fine on both. TomTom is coming to Android. Games...I play my Vita, PSP, and 3DS. But podcasts I use hours a day and NEED to work right!
 
NewAnger said:
Audiobooks stay in the music app where they belong.
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You guys who have the iOS 6 GM -- are you testing this with the Podcasts, iTunes U and iBooks apps installed, or without?

Since they're not preinstalled apps, Apple has to put its non-Music content in the Music app even in the new OS (because it has to go somewhere). But my understanding was that Podcasts, at least, are magically removed from Music once the Podcasts app is installed. Is that correct? And if so, does it also remove iTunes U content when that app is installed? You'd think Audiobooks would go with iBooks as well, since that's how content is organized in iTunes.
 
Another question: regardless of whether or not the Podcasts section appears in Music when Podcasts is installed -- do Podcasts playlists synced from the desktop continue to show up or do they disappear too? Or do they show up but are empty?
 
Wow...is this for real? Did Apple New Coke themselves and throw away podcast support?

My iPod touch 4 is broken so I can't really check this, but on my iPad, I installed iOS 6, I launched the music program, and it tells me "got to podcasts and itunes u! hurray!"

Then I go to the iOS itunes, search for a podcast and try to download it, and it tells me "you have have to have podcasts installed!"

WHAAAAAAAT?!?!? :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Is this for real? If I wanted broken podcast support, I would have been using an Android phone for the past 3 years. I have ZERO reason to buy an iPhone or iPod touch 5 now, if it's similarly broken on there.

GEEZ. NOW what? If this is seriously broken, do I hope that the iPod classic and nano still support it right and stick with them?

Do I switch to Android and pretend this is 2003 and I have to manually copy podcasts back and forth, manually remember my playback position, etc.?

Do I hope Windows Phone 8 (ironically) copies Apple's 2005 method while Apple New Cokes Microsoft's astonishingly HORRIFIC method?

Why, when you're THE clear cut winner on this do you FREAKING COPY YOUR INCOMPETENT COMPETITORS?!? They seriously want me to go back to 2003? Even if I GOT an iPhone (which requires I switch to an inferior carrier) I'd STILL have to carry a nano or classic with me anyway, which is the entire reason I don't own an Android phone!

GEEZ, I LOVE the 4s, I LOVE the 5...I even like the changes I've seen so far to iOS 6, but dropping podcast support ain't going to cut it. It's the ONE thing I do most, and the ONE thing Android and Windows Phone 7 are utterly incompetent at.

EDIT: I suppose another method is manually downloading podcasts in like Juicer or whatever that open source program is, then copying them into itunes as music...THAT might work...but how insane is that?
 
Wolfpup said:
Wow...is this for real? Did Apple New Coke themselves and throw away podcast support?

My iPod touch 4 is broken so I can't really check this, but on my iPad, I installed iOS 6, I launched the music program, and it tells me "got to podcasts and itunes u! hurray!"

Then I go to the iOS itunes, search for a podcast and try to download it, and it tells me "you have have to have podcasts installed!"

WHAAAAAAAT?!?!? :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Is this for real? If I wanted broken podcast support, I would have been using an Android phone for the past 3 years. I have ZERO reason to buy an iPhone or iPod touch 5 now, if it's similarly broken on there.

GEEZ. NOW what? If this is seriously broken, do I hope that the iPod classic and nano still support it right and stick with them?

Do I switch to Android and pretend this is 2003 and I have to manually copy podcasts back and forth, manually remember my playback position, etc.?

Do I hope Windows Phone 8 (ironically) copies Apple's 2005 method while Apple New Cokes Microsoft's astonishingly HORRIFIC method?

Why, when you're THE clear cut winner on this do you FREAKING COPY YOUR INCOMPETENT COMPETITORS?!? They seriously want me to go back to 2003? Even if I GOT an iPhone (which requires I switch to an inferior carrier) I'd STILL have to carry a nano or classic with me anyway, which is the entire reason I don't own an Android phone!

GEEZ, I LOVE the 4s, I LOVE the 5...I even like the changes I've seen so far to iOS 6, but dropping podcast support ain't going to cut it. It's the ONE thing I do most, and the ONE thing Android and Windows Phone 7 are utterly incompetent at.

EDIT: I suppose another method is manually downloading podcasts in like Juicer or whatever that open source program is, then copying them into itunes as music...THAT might work...but how insane is that?
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Whoa dude...breathe! The podcasts app has some issues right now but I'm sure they'll be worked out in time (some of the things that most irked me about it have already been fixed). So what feature is the dealbreaker for you? Lack of playlist support? I'm guessing that's gone for good, but what else? iTunes 11 is clearly intended to fix the issue with syncing play positions and it's only a month away. Most of the other issues people have with it are legitimate bugs we can expect to see quashed in time.
 
Heehee, well, I hope you're right! I'll mess with it more hopefully this weekend or next. If it's like it was though...
 
It definitely feels more responsive than previous version, but haven't had a chance to use it long enough to see if they've really worked out the crashiness.
 
farleysmaster said:
I have the 4S and iOS 6. I deleted the podcasts app and reset all settings and it brought podcasts back into the music app. So, take heart!
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What do you mean by reset all settings? I deleted "Podcasts" from my iPad 2, and podcasts still don't work. It even informs me I have to install it to play them.

If there's a way to bring back real podcast support, I'm not alone in not knowing about it, judging by the "Podcasts" reviews I just scrolled through!
 
Wolfpup said:
What do you mean by reset all settings? I deleted "Podcasts" from my iPad 2, and podcasts still don't work. It even informs me I have to install it to play them.

If there's a way to bring back real podcast support, I'm not alone in not knowing about it, judging by the "Podcasts" reviews I just scrolled through!
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Settings->General->Reset->Reset all Settings
This won't erase data, but will reset wifi passwords, ringtone choices and things like that. I did it anyway, as it's a common fix for battery issues. Worked for me, your mileage may vary.
 
farleysmaster said:
Settings->General->Reset->Reset all Settings
This won't erase data, but will reset wifi passwords, ringtone choices and things like that. I did it anyway, as it's a common fix for battery issues. Worked for me, your mileage may vary.
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I just simply deleted the podcasts app and the podcasts option immediately returned to the music app.
 
NewAnger said:
I just simply deleted the podcasts app and the podcasts option immediately returned to the music app.
Click to expand...

That's what happened to me in iOS 5, but not iOS 6.

And thanks to both of you for your posts!

I wonder, even if that (annoying!) work around works, does that mean they may break the work around at some point? As me scared to invest any more in iOS. And I don't even know if the work around will work for me.
 
I found the app so annoying, I would download Podcasts to the device and even start listening to them but when I would quite the app and then go back in later the app would show that the podcast had yet to be downloaded.

After getting fed up of this and not being able to listen to my Podcasts while on the Tube I decided to try Downcast. This is how it should be I just add what shows I want and I have never had to manually pull anything down new episodes are downloaded and everything just works. Superb app.
 
Moe UK said:
I found the app so annoying, I would download Podcasts to the device and even start listening to them but when I would quite the app and then go back in later the app would show that the podcast had yet to be downloaded.

After getting fed up of this and not being able to listen to my Podcasts while on the Tube I decided to try Downcast. This is how it should be I just add what shows I want and I have never had to manually pull anything down new episodes are downloaded and everything just works. Superb app.
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I've heard of that program, but I assume it can't sync with iTunes, right? I just want the exact functionality it had from 2005 through yesterday!
 
AlexRiis said:
I also got really fed up with the usability and quality of existing native Podcast Apps, and as i spend a lot of time commuting it was a priority for me to have something thats easy to use in the car and can remember my progress in the different podcasts i follow, and where i can just stream without having to download or sync anything.

For that reason i built www.podcaster.mobi in HTML5, so it works on all my devices, and so far i am pretty happy about it :) Feel free to use it if you like. It's non commercial, made just for fun and for my own entertainment during the loooong drives to and from work :)
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As a help to those frustrated with bad Podcast apps, a new version of Podcaster.mobi is now out, where you can log in using your Facebook account, which will cause your progress to be saved in the cloud, and synchronized across your devices, so that you can just pause on one device and resume on another!

I also i made a Facebook page, in the hopes that Podcaster.mobi could be community driven - Any idea or suggestion from the community that i like and find relevant could find its way into the App :)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Podcastermobi/104949029662395

Best regards
Alex
 
Installed iOS 6 on my half broken iPod 4...when connected to my car by cable, it still sees my playlist (as does iTunes) even though the iPod can no longer see (let alone edit) it.

When it asked, I agreed to let it use iCloud to sync...something. I have no idea what that means since it doesn't explain what it is, what it works with, etc.

It seems like the data is still on there, but you can't interact with it right anymore FROM the iPod. Wonder what happens through bluetooth too, because that gives kind of a "dumber" connection to my car with iOS than the cable does, like basically I just need to set up a long playlist and go...yeah...but now I *CAN'T* do that, start playing a playlist from the device.

And I haven't even seen if the syncing's all broken now yet...

I'm just amazed that they thought there was some reason to do this, and that they'd release it like this!

What's awful is the iOS 6 audio player looks better! I think they're *finally* using screen real estate a bit better, not sticking all the virtual buttons on one row crammed together...only now they don't let me USE it anymore...
 
Other than some oddness downloading one of my podcasts (Tiesto's Club Life), I've been pretty happy with the Apple Podcasts app. Hopefully they continue to add some missing functionality (push notifications would be nice) while continuing to offer something more basic than Instacast/Downcast.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, better chapter support would be nice too... not a lot of podcasts seem to take advantage of them, but they sure are nice in the ones that do.
 
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NightStorm said:
Other than some oddness downloading one of my podcasts (Tiesto's Club Life), I've been pretty happy with the Apple Podcasts app. Hopefully they continue to add some missing functionality (push notifications would be nice) while offering something more basic than Instacast/Downcast.
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Podcasts 1.1 seems (tentatively) to be better than 1.0.2, particularly when it comes to one of my biggest complaints (poor to nonexistent syncing of play positions/played status with iTunes). I'm a little befuddled by some of the new reviews claiming the app stops playing when you leave it -- I had that problem with the earlier version occasionally but not this one.

To my mind, the biggest omissions remain the lack of playlist support, and the fact that the "Unplayed" list doesn't play all the way through.

I guess it makes sense that they changed the playback speed control to a button (more familiar to long time users, also finally now accurate about the ACTUAL speeds -- the Music app's "2X" was always really "1.5X" and now it reflects that correctly). But I have to say I kind of liked the cute "tortoise-to-hare" gauge control from the original.
 
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