Podcast support and wireless sync-2 steps backwards?

[Chris Bardon]

So I just got my Lumia 920 set up (mostly), but the last thing I needed to figure out was media sync for podcasts. On my wp7, I had Zune downloading new episodes, and my phone (usually) syncing over wifi. This has worked for the past couple of years, and I expected at least close to the same feature set with 8...

Of course, in the US, you can add podcasts natively, but in Canada this feature is missing, even though the tab appears in Music. After reading this article , I tried messing around with what can be done. Using itunes and the new windows phone app did appear to work (at least to start with), but then I noticed that there were no options for wireless sync. The other interesting thing I discovered was that if you browse the file structure of the phone, you get a PodcastSeries directory under Music that has a .ser file for each podcast (which appears to be empty). Syncing via itunes also populates the podcast tab, and there is a "Subscribe" button now, but if I tap it, set the options, and hit confirm, nothing happens. I can't even control the order that episodes are played back in, let alone subscribe to new ones.

Is it too much to ask to at least have what worked in the last revision? Ideally, I'd like to have on-device subscriptions and downloads, but so far it appears that unless you live in the US (even in regions where the Xbox music marketplace exists), you're out of luck. Anyone got a good workaround to this issue?

 

[Muessig]

You'd at least expect them to keep the same functionality, it's weird. I really dont like that you pretty much have to use iTunes at the moment to get even a little bit of what you want but here's hoping that MS will update the sync app to make WP8 handle podcasts properly!

 

[runam0k]

Having to use a third party app for now - wpodder works quite well.

 

[stuartbritt]

Podcast support outside the US is just awful. This alone will likely make be change platforms when my lumia 800 is due for upgrade. Every other smartphone platform allows you to subscribe to podcasts and automatically download them from the phone in the UK.
Wpodder and the like are ok fir search and subscribe, but none of them will auto download episodes.
I'm surprised more isn't made of this huge feature hole...and I've never heard a single good reason why MS can't offer this outside the UK.
There was even a news post on WPC highlighting how the 7.5 tango update broke a workaround that people had been using, but even that just died without any answers.

Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express

 

[dawindbag]

I'm in the US and I find the native Podcast support to only be marginally useful. It never really played nice with Zune synced podcasts, so losing that eliminates one issue. But it doesn't give you fine grained control over how many podcasts you keep and it doesn't remove played podcasts from the list. Annoying for daily podcasts.

Mostly I'm posting to agree with the OP and further vent my frustration at how big a disaster this transition from Win7 to Win8 and WP7 and WP8 feels like for me. Basically the one reason I loved Zune (and subsequently got into the WP ecosystem) was because of how easy it was to sync media over WiFi and to manage podcasts. With this "upgrade" I've essentially lost the only 2 things that provided value to me over Apple and Android.

Man this is miserable.

 

[mcheiron]

Same here. I really hate how podcast support was dropped from Zune to Xbox music on windows 8 and now the drop of synchronization on wp8. That should be an integrated simple feature worldwide. It seems as MS programmers don't use podcasts and just forgot then since they were in a hurry

 

[jhoff80]

Really, the solution would be simple, just let users enter an RSS feed on the phone and have it added to the list.

Clearly it's possible for the OS to add a feed, because you could do so from Zune on WP7, so all they need to do is expose that to the end user. Even in the US it'd be nice, because there's a podcast that I listen to occasionally that isn't in Zune.

 

[dawindbag]

Really, the solution would be simple, just let users enter an RSS feed on the phone and have it added to the list.

Clearly it's possible for the OS to add a feed, because you could do so from Zune on WP7, so all they need to do is expose that to the end user. Even in the US it'd be nice, because there's a podcast that I listen to occasionally that isn't in Zune.

This would be a fine solution but it must be synced between PC and phone. RSS feeds added on the phone would then show up in Xbox Music (or Podcasts, whatever) and vice versa. Then played podcasts would be tracked in both locations and played podcasts could be deleted from the phone or both.

The issue with that solution is that having a Podcast Marketplace is a critical component for finding and promoting podcasts. The Zune podcast marketplace was decent, I want to browse for topics on my PC and have them show up on my phone. Often I'd start listening on one device and transition to the other. Zune, so long as you synced, was great at this.

 

[darren powell]

Hi

i have just discovered this workaround using the current beta version of the desktop sync app, which will sync podcasts from itunes.

Windows Phone Support | Xbox LIVE, Windows Live, & Zune | Windows Phone 7 | Windows Phone (United Kingdom)

Annoying to have to use itunes though. Very poor microsoft!!

 

[Fleon]

That link seems to just link to the home page for me. Could you copy and paste?

 

[Takao Yamada]

I don't mind having to subscribe through the windows store, but I can't stand how I cannot mark an episode as already played until it is downloaded first onto my phone. It is taking me hours to download, mark as played, and then delete each episode. Anyone know of a better way? I guess I could download individual episodes and just not sync automatically.