Podcasts

[Burnfoot]

I am an android user but I am thinking of switching to WP. Podcasts are essential to me so I am wondering if WP can handle this as well as android?

I want to be able to:

* Download OTA directly to phone
* Subscribe to ALL podcasts
* Do playlists
* Automatically schedule feed updates and downloads

I would prefer to:

* Be able to set automatic playlist setting
* Automatic delete of listened items

Can someone please let me know if this is possible and what apps or setup you use to handle podcasts?

Thank you!

 

[Burnfoot]

No one?

 

[massifheed]

No one?

I hear ya, I just don't know the answer, sorry. The podcasts I do have on my phone are ones that I have synced from Zune.

I can't see any way from the phone itself to subscribe to a new podcast (although it's quite possible that I'm missing something). But, if I go into the list of podcasts that I've synced from my PC I have a "Subscribe" button for each of them. I believe that I can choose this option and then future podcasts will be downloaded straight to the phone, rather than have to be synced from Zune.

That's my understanding, but I'm not 100%. I'm sure someone who really knows the answers to your questions will be along soon enough.

 

[TGBmark1234]

It largely depends on where in the world you are. Podcast handling in the US is far better than the rest-of-world region, for some no doubt stupid unjustifiable reason.

I've answered the questions for the native functionality of the phone itself. You get slightly different behaviour if you use Zune to manage your podcasts. I've not tried, or even looked into, any 3rd party podcast apps.

* Download OTA directly to phone

Via wifi, yes. Over 3G is only available in the US.

* Subscribe to ALL podcasts

In the US you can access the Podcast Marketplace to view and subscribe to podcasts directly on the device. Elsewhere you have to use Zune on the PC to download an episode of the the podcast you want, sync it to the phone and then tell the phone to subscribe to the podcast.

* Do playlists

No.

* Automatically schedule feed updates and downloads

No. WP7 checks for updates and downloads to its own schedule that you cannot control. I have found, however, that if you delete an episode it will force the device to check for new episodes across all series.

* Be able to set automatic playlist setting

If you have multiple unplayed episodes in a podcast series then you can play them all in one go but no other playlist type functionality exists.

* Automatic delete of listened items

I hate how WP7 handles this. You can set the number of episodes you want the phone to keep (1-5 or all) and it will auto-delete old episodes to download new episodes. But if you delete an episode you've listened to then WP7 immediately tries to download it again to keep the number of episodes (1-5) filled.

 

[Burnfoot]

How about this Bringcast app, does that add more functionality? Is it any good?

 

[foosball]

Bringcast is a good app that will allow for playlists among other features. They recently updated for Mango so now you can listen to podcasts while multitasking just like in Zune.

Sent from my HTC Arrive using Board Express