WP8 Podcast support

TimN_FL

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Feb 21, 2011
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While I sit back and consider what WP8 handset I am going to purchase when they go on sale here in the US in a couple of days, I had a few questions that haven't really been addressed in any of the reviews or hands on coverage. Currently on my WP7 device I really enjoy the podcast support between the Zune PC software and the phone. I don't use the on device podcast management because I only want to see the podcast that have new episodes, so syncing with the desktop client has worked out well for me.

My question is, with all of the write ups that have been done so far it seems as if podcast support has been removed from the new "Windows Phone 8" apps, can anyone confirm this? also, has the on device management been improved at all? Again, ideally I would like it if I could manage all of my podcasts and have it only display the podcast that have "new" episodes.

And lastly, I am a zunehd user. Last time I tried to use the on device podcast management and management with the Zune desktop software to keep my Zune in sync with what I was listening to on my handset, it was a nightmare with duplicate podcast and episodes.

Thanks for any help you can provide
Tim_FL
 

Jayme Cousins

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Dec 12, 2012
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It is with great regret that I can confirm your understanding. The WP8 podcast support is essentially non-existent. I've heard that US-based users have some options, but for those of us beyond those borders the situation is dire. Paul Thurrott has recommended the SlapDash app (which works well) but I'm currently preferring WPodder.

The problem is that both of these fail to incorporate the downloaded podcasts into the Music & Videos hub. You have to enter a separate app, navigate its system, then find and play your podcast. That's the Apple/Andriod model and is exactly what the ethos of the WinPhone sought to avoid.

Like you I was very comfortable with my Zune desktop client to manage all the media on my WP7 device. It worked very well, was largely intuitive and quite responsive. Microsoft has saddled Windows 7 users with a horrible replacement which takes forever to inventory your media and then makes it very difficult to manage playlists and really control what gets synced to your phone. It's dreadful. I'm currently using a blend of Picasa, Windows Gallery and manual file management to approximate what Zune did for us seamlessly.

For those of us without the massive data plans found in the US, an all-cloud service is simply not a viable option. We need good podcast and media managment systems rather than these afterthoughts. Here's hoping that Microsoft will bring us these tools so that we can truly use the phone itself as intended.
 

dalogrus

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I agree, the music/podcast management experience is unbelievably bad. I don't know who was responsible designing that mess. I came from the iPhone, and while what you are saying about its apps incorporating music into its own file system is true - there is a 'but'. That system actually works. When I plug the iPhone into my car I can navigate to the given application, play the music and it plays through my car's speakers, be it Podcasts app or AVPlayer. On the Lumia 920 it's a no go. I plug the phone in, can browse through the phone's file system and locate music files (and play them), but as you mentioned above, music or podcasts from podcast apps are not there. So the next natural thing for me is to navigate to the pocast app (wpodder), play my podcast and (wait for it)... hear it through the phone's speakers???? despite the phone being plugged into the car's music system. I don't understand why it can't work like the iPhone does? Maybe I need to connect it via the aux instead of using the usb connection (haven't tried that yet). Anyway it is not a straight forward operation, and I feel it should be... There. [/endwhine]
 

Jayme Cousins

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That's interesting dalogrus! I use a bluetooth connection to my car and music AND podcasts play through the car speakers seamlessly - as do phone calls and text messages. Even SlapDash (which I've not removed) and WPodder play them over BT without issue. Have not tried a wire connection to my car but will do so.

As an aside, I will say that I find the voice message interpretation for texts to be nowhere near as good as it was on my WP7 Samsung Focus. But it still reads the messages passably over BT.
 

dalogrus

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It turns out that my car BT does not support A2DP, it will make calls, read out messages, but no go with the sound.
I did some experiments though and it turns out that if I connect the 920 just via USB - it will let me browse and play the contents of the SD card itself (for some reason no playlists though). If I connect via USB and AUX the car starts giving me options like search by criteria, play playlists that it didn't notice earlier, and the sound quality seems to be much better as well.
Anyway... I learned to live with it, although one thing doesn't cease to amaze me:
Every hour or so the sound will suddenly stop, sometimes picking back up after a few seconds and sometimes I need to disconnect and reconnect the phone.
I have come to think that it is the car's fault, but a retrofit of the next level BT system is just too costly, so I'm just letting it go...
Regards
dalogrus
 

vedichymn

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Sadly, the best option I've found if you want to listen to podcasts on your PC and phone is to use iTunes and the Windows Phone desktop tool to sync. It does have a number of downsides though compared to the Zune desktop software.

It's not a true sync, just automates the job of copying files over to your phone. Metadata like listened/unlistened status, podcast position, etc doesn't sync It also seems to be incredibly slow, but that's livable I guess.

One big annoyance for me (but maybe not for you) was that if you listen to even a few seconds of a podcast in iTunes, the desktop sync software will remove it from the phone as "not new".
 

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