beginners question: podcasts in phone marketplace

[Jalik]

Hi folks!
I finally did it: switched from frustrating ICS Nexus S to a shiny new and blue Lumia 800 - and I absolutely love it! Happy I made the move!

But there's a learning curve of course. One of the things I liked about Android was the beyond pod app which would automatically aggregate my RSS feeds and podcasts. I tried to replicate this with WP7 but so far I'm not really satisfied. One guy from the US suggested via Twitter to get my podcasts via the marketplace app. He said, there is a podcast category below the music category. Oddly enough, there is no such category in my German marketplace app. Are there known regional differences? He was not talking about the Zune software where I do have such a podcast category. Can anyone help me or suggest an alternate way of background podcast download without having to sync with the PC?

Thanks alot!

 

[TGBmark1234]

Podcasts in the US work much better than elsewhere, for some unexplained reason. So, yes there is a podcast marketplace in the US, but being in Germany you'll be left disappointed.

What you have to do is use Zune to download one episode of each podcast series that you want. Sync those over to the phone and then there will be a subscribe button that you can press to make the phone download further episodes.

You'll only be able to download over wifi - 3g downloading is reserved for the US only for some other unexplained reason.

 

[Jalik]

Thanks! If I have to download via Zune only once it should be okay. ****, I manually migrated my Google calendar to Hotmail. Just for Windows Phone I won't let some podcasts spoil my excitement about this brilliant OS

 

[bigkevbosky]

Buy an app called Podcasts in the marketplace. Has a funky neon orange tile. Should work for you.

 

[mtmjr90]

I should mention that even within the US, the podcast functionality is quite unreliable. Coming from both Android and iOS, I expect new podcasts to automatically download when available...they don't. More often than not, I have to go into the marketplace and manually grab new episodes. I am also wholly unable to download them via mobile network.

I've also had problems with it not deleting old, played podcasts once a newer episode has been downloaded (and yes, I've got it set to keep 1 episode only).

All in all, the native podcast experience on WP7 has a lot to catch up on and improve, but I'm willing to wait it out

Sent from my HTC Radar using Board Express

 

[Eirenarch]

So how do podcasts work? Do the authors publish each episode in the marketplace or what?

 

[Jalik]

I somehow feel stupid. Via the Zune PC software I synced several podcasts to the phone. They appear in the podcasts subsection of the Zune app on the phone. But I'm unable to find a subscribe button. Another regional thing ir do I look at the wrong place?

 

[paulm187]

Have you setup the series settings on Zune for the podcasts? I am in the UK and I have a number of podcasts and it shows the subscribe button

 

[TGBmark1234]

There is a subscribe button is inside each podcast series, not just in the general podcast area.

Just to check - did you have Zune download the episode itself after you gave it the rss url? Zune needs to pass over the url for the phone to know where to download from.

 

[bbennett40]

I moved from Android to WP in Sept and Podcasts are one of the things that I haven't been able to be as satisfied with myself. I used BeyondPod and loved it. Here's my frustrated ramblings from another thread:

I initially subscribed to a few [podcasts] on my PC Zune and manually synced the episodes I was at on each one. Later when checking them on my phone, I noticed the subscribe button and subscribed to the podcasts on the phone. It immediately downloaded MONTHS prior podcasts. First I tried setting each old one to 'read' and then deleting it. After working back up to current podcast and thinking I was done, it started over. I then removed all podcasts subscriptions from the PC and the phone and resubscribed just on the phone. Again with the months old episodes. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and went through setting each one to ‘read’ and deleting it. That was yesterday. I am now looking at my phone with another billion podcasts waiting to download from months ago.
I’m at my wits end. I WANT to use Zune. But it’s driving me insane!

**Update - After playing with it. I realize that rather than download the most recent x number of podcasts and then playing them in the order you choose (from newest to oldest or the reverse), it uses applies your playing order preference to downloading as well. If you chose to play from oldest to newest, it downloads the oldest podcasts in the series and works forward. I just don’t get why it keeps starting over after I work back up to the current episode.

****Update 2 - Ok..The podcast settings work as I want in the PC Zune software. It downloads x number of the most recent podacsts (I choose 5) and then reads them in the order of your preference (I chose oldest to newest). Then when syncing them to the phone it does the same. Although I can still manually download new episodes on the phone, I still have to get the action I want by syncing with the pc. Hopefully, the phone Zune behavior will be modified at some point.

 

[TGBmark1234]

You are right that the on device experience leaves a lot to be desired. This is a real disappointment as Zune handles everything really well.

You could try letting Zune manage things and wirelessly sync with it. This brings it's own set of issues though and I found letting the phone do it itself was better.

 

[paulm187]

I find that subscribing to podcasts both on Zune PC and on the phone seems to confuse it. I now only subscribe through the PC.

 

[Jalik]

I finally managed to subscribe to podcasts on the phone. It took me a week or so to figure out that I have to tab the podcast name in the Zune app on the phone again after I opened it. That's not intuitive at all. Also this duality of marketplace and Zune app is confusing. Well, if you consider the PC version of Zune it's a trinity. It should be one thing that does all, really.

However, I got my podcasts on my phone. That's what counts