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Author Topic: Looking for a good no-frills podcatcher  (Read 2085 times)
40hz
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« on: December 01, 2010, 04:16:15 PM »
I've been looking for an up-to-date no frills podcatch client. So far I haven't found anything I can really say I like.

Most are either loaded down with a pile of video and shopping features I don't want (Miro/iTunes); are ghastly to look at (gPodder); have a pile of additional stuff (i.e. garbage) that doesn't do much for improving the podcast listening experience (Ziepod); or are beginning to show speed & reliability issues because they haven't been updated in years (Juice).

What I'm looking for is:

  • the ability to stream podcasts (i.e. not be required to download and save them first)
  • the ability to selectively download and play podcasts
  • the ability to subscribe to a podcast feed
  • some rudimentary folder organization functions
  • an intuitive and logical interface
  • bullet proof reliability running under Windows 7 64-bit

and that's it .  smiley

I DO NOT  Angry want it to provide:

  • video capabilities
  • crowdsourced recommendations
  • suggestions for 'similar' podcasts
  • rating systems
  • preconfigured "channels"
  • "social" anything (i.e. "likes", tweets, etc.)
  • a dog-ugly interface

Right now I'm reaching the conclusion that iTunes just might be doing it better than anything else out there.

And I hope I'm very wrong on that score.

So...does anybody have any recommendations?
« Last Edit: December 01, 2010, 07:45:23 PM by 40hz » Logged
Bamse
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« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2010, 05:40:43 PM »
May be you already have it installed. VLC. Not sure it is useful for more than may be 25-35 entries, or I cant figure out how to make folders.
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40hz
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« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2010, 07:41:36 PM »
Thanks for the suggestion. smiley I actually do have VLC. It's a fine app, but not quite what I'm looking for in a podcatcher.

The search continues...
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steeladept
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« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2010, 01:43:43 AM »
Me too.  I use iTunes by default, but what you are asking for sounds perfect.   BTW:  The latest iTunes FINALLY fixed my podcast stutters by creating a larger stream cache before playing.  I can't believe it took them 2 years to figure that one out...I asked how to adjust it somewhere around day 15 when I first tried it...
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Bamse
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« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2010, 03:54:22 AM »
Did not see you mentioned Itunes. How can you want a simple snatcher and then consider that one. Is a monster and overkill. At least also consider Miro once again. Not that intrusive and has become more stable with 3.5. I use it for both podcasts, video stuff, rss feed from torrents (ooops). Use an internal VLC to play, can it get any better? Dont let start page with video search annoy you too much. I particularly like the auto download and auto cleanup features. Nothing to mess with, just works.

There are some stupid things in Miro though. Browsing features are limited and studpid though it has full access to Firefox/Xulrunner. Wants to be a "Media" thingy but not really the case. Even Winamp has better integration of features most would expect in "Media" something. But may be also why it qualifies as simple. Possible program has an identity crisis.

I was close to using Itunes recently since a podcast was ONLY delivered through that. Found a evil rss -> real rss converter which works great. http://picklemonkey.net/flipper/

If you try it out but find that it cannot close database files or open them, you will see a popup, exclude them in your AV. Have had that problem a couple of times.
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« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2010, 07:26:04 AM »
I think I was after something different than you, a multi-device synced solution, but here's some things I went through on my similar search.

My main goal was finding a way of keeping my feeds in sync between my desktop at home and my laptop, where I do most of my listening, at work..

At first I was using the Zune software on my desktop to subscribe and download, sync the files to my external drive and then play them whereever.  But I wanted to get away from having to take the external drive out of my bag each day.

Then I started using Foobar2000 with the Podcatcher component portably, which worked well but I still wasn't satisfied with keeping them in sync, and I got a new phone that I wanted to start using as well.

That's when I tried Google's Listen app for Android, which integrates with Google Reader, and that was just an awful mess. It works alright, but it was difficult when a podcast would show up in Google Reader, and I'd have to keep it new until I listend for it to show up in Listen.


I like Google Reader for RSS, and now that I had moved my podcast subscriptions into it, I found that I liked it better than Zune (which I didn't dare install on my work PC).  Thus, I decided to just manage things myself. Currently, I subscribe in Google Reader and when a new podcast shows up I download it to my Dropbox folder.

Then I can download it on my phone or play it from any of my devices (they all have Dropbox) in whatever player I want.  Once I've listened I just delete it from Dropbox and that's it.


It's not a nice automated solution, but it's a simple one that meets my needs, and there's no software trying to be too smart or flashy getting in the way.
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app103
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« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2010, 12:22:58 PM »
I am still using Juice, myself, simply because all it does is download them and nothing more. My primary use is for downloading free music from last.fm (my recommended downloads feed). I'd like something similar but with the ability to handle unicode file names, which cause Juice to fail.
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dspelley
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« Reply #7 on: December 15, 2010, 01:49:01 PM »
Here's a list of clients - but I haven't looked at any of them.  Podcasting News

Looks like Wikipedia has a similar (maybe the same) list.
« Last Edit: December 15, 2010, 01:52:00 PM by dspelley » Logged
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40hz
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« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2010, 11:56:55 PM »
Quote from: dspelley on December 15, 2010, 01:49:01 PM
Here's a list of clients - but I haven't looked at any of them.  Podcasting News

Looks like Wikipedia has a similar (maybe the same) list.

I've been working my way through those lists along with a few others. Nothing so far seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.

Quote from: app103 on December 02, 2010, 12:22:58 PM
I am still using Juice, myself, simply because all it does is download them and nothing more. My primary use is for downloading free music from last.fm (my recommended downloads feed). I'd like something similar but with the ability to handle unicode file names, which cause Juice to fail.

I'm going to have to agree with April on this one. So far, Juice comes closest to what I need it for, so I guess I'll learn to live with its limitations. There's only one place I visit where the unicode issue will be a problem. For that site I'll just do manual downloads.

Thanks to all for the feedback and suggestions. Thmbsup
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