Return to Apple's Podcasts app

When I got my first iPod (a first generation iPod nano) in 2006, the greatest discovery was podcasts. So as the years have passed and I've bought new devices, podcasts have been a necessary feature for me. I was extremely disappointed when Apple split up the iPod app and then split out the Podcasts app. When it first released it just wasn't up to the task.

I'm happy to report that Apple has fixed my biggest complaints in Version 1.2 (and sad that it took until version 1.2.3 for me to discover it). I'm back and I'm once again recommending this app for the hundreds of thousands of podcast subscribers out there. The biggest change came with the addition of two features: My Stations and iTunes Playlists.

My Stations is a new way of organizing podcast subscriptions. It is like playlists and yet it is different. It is designed around interacting with your subscriptions on your mobile device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch). You pick some of your podcasts, set the order, set the media type (Audio, Video, Both) and you're ready to listen. You can tweak and adjust other settings later. The basics make it easy to start new stations. I have created stations for Technology, Space, Snowboarding, Management, and History. This way I have a station ready for whatever mood I'm in.

iTunes Playlists returns a functionality that should have been there from the beginning. My first generation iPod nano still does a better job with letting me listen to podcasts than an iPhone with Podcasts version 1.1 did. This is because I could manage my podcast subscriptions in iTunes and create a large variety of Smart Playlists and then sync them to my iPod. They played on my iPod exactly the same way they played on iTunes. Well, with Podcasts Version 1.2, that is back. One of the keys is sorting a Smart Playlist by Release Date and this is working in the Podcasts app now.

Even with My Stations there is a place for iTunes Playlists. iTunes gives more control to the filtering and sorting of your podcast subscriptions. This fine tune control over podcasts in iTunes can be enjoyed on your mobile device when you sync them.

iCloud Synchronization let's you make changes to My Stations and synchronizes Played and Unplayed data. This means that you can listen to a station on your iPhone in the car. Then through iCloud, you can pick up where you left off on your Apple TV, iPad, or iTunes. It all happens in the background. (I thought it would go without saying that you must leave the app running in the background when you return to a WiFi connection to allow your first device to upload status. Then it will take a while for this status to download to the second device. Based on the way I've seen non-technical people interact with other aspects of iCloud, I guess I still need to say this out loud.)

We're not completely out of the woods though. There are plenty of little things for Apple to fix to help podcast subscribers enjoy their programs. For the time being, I'm using Apple's Podcasts app. If you're not happy with Apple's Podcasts app, while I was away from it, I was using Downcast. For $3 it is a great app for podcasts. Give it a try and compare them both to your podcast playing preferences.