Anyone having problems with podcasts?

[mrgstiffler]

I'll subscribe to a podcast and tell it to download the 3 latest episodes and it doesn't do anything. I can go into a podcast and specifically tell it to download an episode and it still wont do anything. Eventually it will download some episodes but leave a bunch other at "pending". Is this a common problem?

 

[toddos]

Did you tell it to download over cellular? If so, you can't download anything larger than ~30MB, and those will wait for wifi. Moreover, I found that my 920 didn't want to download podcasts over wifi unless I was also plugged in, which is not really convenient since my phone is only turned off when it's plugged in and wifi currently doesn't stay on when locked.

But the straw that broke the camel's back was that the Music app kept trying to download a non-existent episode of one of my podcasts, and even when I'd manually cancel the download it'd show back up as "pending" after an hour. I switched over to wpodder and just stream everything now. There are enough other halfway decent podcast apps that function better than the built-in, I don't see myself going back unless Microsoft puts a large amount of work into un-breaking podcasts.

 

[mrgstiffler]

Did you tell it to download over cellular? If so, you can't download anything larger than ~30MB, and those will wait for wifi. Moreover, I found that my 920 didn't want to download podcasts over wifi unless I was also plugged in, which is not really convenient since my phone is only turned off when it's plugged in and wifi currently doesn't stay on when locked.

But the straw that broke the camel's back was that the Music app kept trying to download a non-existent episode of one of my podcasts, and even when I'd manually cancel the download it'd show back up as "pending" after an hour. I switched over to wpodder and just stream everything now. There are enough other halfway decent podcast apps that function better than the built-in, I don't see myself going back unless Microsoft puts a large amount of work into un-breaking podcasts.

I've been on wifi when I've had these issues. I also had the pending/cancel/pending issue that you've had. This is actually pretty frustrating for me since I only use the music app for podcasts. I don't have any actual music synced to my phone. Can you download podcasts instead of stream with the other apps?

 

[toddos]

I've been on wifi when I've had these issues. I also had the pending/cancel/pending issue that you've had. This is actually pretty frustrating for me since I only use the music app for podcasts. I don't have any actual music synced to my phone. Can you download podcasts instead of stream with the other apps?

Most podcast apps will let you download, but I've found they're generally not as automated as the built-in app. Which may actually be a good thing, given how poorly the built-in app does its download automation.

 

[GhostITMG]

While the WP8 podcasts store doesn't update as frequently as I'd like, usually I have no problem downloading episodes. That was until today however. I checked a couple of my daily podcasts this morning and saw that episodes were available, but not in my phone. I tried to download them manually, but the downloads just sat there saying pending. This is not the normal experience. I can only assume MS is having some issues on their end. Hopefully they'll get worked out quickly.

 

[PhilR8]

I haven't had any issues with podcast management, but I've only subscribed to podcasts from the store - I haven't added any feeds manually.

 

[GhostITMG]

I just discovered that if your reboot the phone, the podcasts will download. Give that a try as it worked for me:smile:

 

[mrgstiffler]

I just discovered that if your reboot the phone, the podcasts will download. Give that a try as it worked for me:smile:

I rebooted mine and they're all still stuck at pending

 

[apoosarla]

I am also unable to download any podcasts and having the same issue as reported. Click on subscribe, nothing happens, restarted the phone nothing happens. It just returns to the subscribe screen.

 

[mturner7472]

as i just mentioned in another thread about podcasts ...

i hate when people say podcasts work fine for the folks in the US ... this podcast solution from MS is beyond ridiculous ... almost made me return my 920 a few days after purchase ... but i feel like SOMETHING will be done to make this better ... how awful is it that in order to get podcasts in their appropriate places on a windows phone, i have to use a piece of software from apple ... and even that is sketchy / flaky / hit or miss (and my god how awful is podcasting in iTunes?!?!)

don't get me wrong, i'm not leaving the platform ... just annoying that my POS arrive had the software to make podcasts a COMPLETE breeze.

And, please don't tell me to use the built-in podcast feature in Xbox Music on the phone ... it's awful and everyone knows it.

• The settings only allow for up to 5 episodes kept ... or ALL ...
• You can't add any URLS for podcasts that don't show up in the marketplace
• every time the phone resets, it removes the following
  • progress in a segment (which means trying to figure out where you were in a segment)
  • unplayed/played status (which means re-downloaded every episode you've already listened to)
• The music app all together doesn't remember what the last piece of media you played was
  • wp7 you could have a song or segment paused for HOURS

- sorry for double posting this ... but i feel like if i posted it in both a non-podcast thread (one about leaving wp8 to go back to wp7) and then an actual podcast thread ... that SOMEONE might actually read it ... they've got to know how messed up this is, right???

 

[thor_molecules]

Having the exact same problem as the OP. I hit subscribe and nothing happens. Doesn't matter if I'm plugged in and using WiFi.

I've rebooted numerous times and it still doesn't work.

Very frustrating.

 

[Jeremy Randall]

I am also getting the same behavior as the OP. Aggravating.

 

[kramerica101]

This problem can be fixed by plugin your WP8 in the charger and make sure your setting is to download the podcasts over wifi. The download will resume automatically.

 

[Snoogins34]

This problem can be fixed by plugin your WP8 in the charger and make sure your setting is to download the podcasts over wifi. The download will resume automatically.

Read what thor_molecules just said: "Doesn't matter if I'm plugged in and using WiFi"

so, ummm... no.

I have the exact same problem. I'm in the US, BTW, so this isn't a non-US thing. On my 920, when I first subbed to a few podcasts right out of the Store, it worked great - downloaded all my episodes. A week or so later, when some new episodes hit, all my new podcast episodes sat in a state of "Pending". I've tried the following:

- changing the settings to download over 4G
- plugging in my phone while on WiFi
- rebooting multiple times
- hitting the explicit "download" link
- setting all my downloaded episodes to "played"
- unsubbing and re-subbing

Nothing has worked, so it would seem that this is a bug at the OS or Store level maybe.

Anyone out there that's had this issue been able to work around this and revive their subscriptions?

 

[Snoogins34]

Timing is everything I guess - I just saw another thread on this topic, and following someone else's advice, got my podcasts working again:

http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/204980-pending-podcast-downloads.html#post1793763

If you are having this issue - check and see if you are subbed to Major Nelson Radio. I don't know if it is directly related, but Yakko's description of the problem and the timing of it matched my experience exactly.

 

[thor_molecules]

Timing is everything I guess - I just saw another thread on this topic, and following someone else's advice, got my podcasts working again:

http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/204980-pending-podcast-downloads.html#post1793763

If you are having this issue - check and see if you are subbed to Major Nelson Radio. I don't know if it is directly related, but Yakko's description of the problem and the timing of it matched my experience exactly.

Mine never even gets to "pending." I hit either subscribe or download, and it just sits there and does nothing.

I am not subscribed to Major Nelson radio, and I am in the U.S.

 

[anon(730643)]

Same issue for me...I'll read the link and report.

 

[thor_molecules]

The link hasn't helped me at all. I've pretty much chalked this one up to a bug and went with WPodder instead.

Hopefully MS gets this sorted out soon. Very concerning that such an important feature is broken out of the box.

 

[thor_molecules]

Guys, I found a fix:

http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/200095-5.htm#post1809484

Hopefully that helps out.

 

[OldMillXxX]

Still an issue. Purchased 928 in June and it comes and goes. Always on WiFi at home and sitting in the Nokia wireless charger at night and nothing in the morning. As stated above, I try to manually force the download, sometimes it works, but many times just "pending" or "waiting for WiFi, which I am already on. Seems like a bug that still exists.

Miss the Zune interface. How easy that was. Should have just worked on the wireless sync for WP8 and kept it going. Love my Zune software. Rebranding it to Xbox is fine as long as it still works the same. Microsoft took a big step backwards in this area if you ask me. Maybe something in the works, but totally missed the boat by having a huge gap.