Author Topic: Podcast Clients.... (Read 11,027 times)

Tekzel · « **on:** October 03, 2007, 04:36 PM »

The only thread I was able to find via search was almost 2 years old, so I figured it would be ok to start a new thread on this subject. Anyone here fans of podcasts? What do you look for in a client? I have been searching high and wide for the perfect client. I found one a long time ago that was close, but it is glacially slow on updates and bug fixes so am "in the market again".

Here are my desired features.

* Freeware or OpenSource. (I am poor and saddled with debt)
* History, it knows what it downloaded and when it downloaded it, plus gives you the ability to easily re-download something it already did.
* Tag replacement. Podcasters obviously don't know what tags are, they normally seem to be randomly generated.

Thats all I can think of right now. I was using Doppler, but like I mentioned, the updates come sloooooow. Bug fixes too.

tinjaw · « **Reply #1 on:** October 03, 2007, 04:47 PM »

I know is sucks to see a reply to your post and then find it doesn't answer your question. I'm sorry, but I want to just let you know that you aren't the only one. <version type="short">Years ago I was involved with podcasts.</version> And there were dozens of podcast clients being built every day. Then iTunes started to handle podcasts and all the podcast clients withered on the vine. Actually, I don't think it was all iTunes, but instead, I believe, IMNHO (In My Never Humble Opinion) that people were not tricked by the marketers. By that I mean that marketers invented "Podcasts". Up until then people called them.... wait for it.... "A u d i o f i l e s"! People would make these "audio files" and put them on a "server" where people would "download" them. Marketers put and end to that and made sure people "subscribed" to "podcasts" that were "attachments". Umm, no. People rebeled, didn't "subscribe" to podcasts with podcast clients, but instead, went to websites, downloaded mp3 files and played them on their computer or portable music player. And when Joe Six-pack and Plain Jane don't buy into the marketing hype, stuff dies. And in this case podcast clients died.

I suggest you use your web browser's ability to subscribe to RSS feeds, subscribe to the podcast, download the mp3 file, put it on your player, and leave it at that. This is what I do after spending a few hours a few weeks ago looking for a good podcast client/player/radio (free or pay) and not finding anything that wasn't abandoned several years ago.

Tekzel · « **Reply #2 on:** October 03, 2007, 04:54 PM »

Quote from: tinjaw on October 03, 2007, 04:47 PM

I suggest you use your web browser's ability to subscribe to RSS feeds, subscribe to the podcast, download the mp3 file, put it on your player, and leave it at that. This is what I do after spending a few hours a few weeks ago looking for a good podcast client/player/radio (free or pay) and not finding anything that wasn't abandoned several years ago.

Eh. as slow to update and fix as it is, Doppler is infinitely better than just using the browser. It automates much of the process and since I am lazy, that is good. Maybe there is yet a golden little app out there that we haven't heard of yet!

Dirhael · « **Reply #3 on:** October 03, 2007, 06:05 PM »

Well, what I use is a wonderful (really) application called Ziepod+. The "+" version is $19.95, but there is also a free version available. The real strength of this program is that it not only lets you download, it will also stream both audio (available in freeware edition) and video (the paid version only) podcasts

It also contains tagging features, filter settings, playlists, history, ratings, embedded browser and a whole lot more. It's one of the few application I would *never* part with, I just love it to much

Here's a few screenshots that I just took:

tinjaw · « **Reply #4 on:** October 03, 2007, 06:22 PM »

Ziepod sure does looks perdy. I'll check it out. Thanks Dirhael.

Renegade · « **Reply #5 on:** October 03, 2007, 11:20 PM »

Quote from: tinjaw on October 03, 2007, 04:47 PM

...
I suggest you use your web browser's ability to subscribe to RSS feeds, subscribe to the podcast, download the mp3 file, put it on your player, and leave it at that. This is what I do after spending a few hours a few weeks ago looking for a good podcast client/player/radio (free or pay) and not finding anything that wasn't abandoned several years ago.

Not sure whether I agree with you there. That's just far too much work.

I use iTunes to manage podcasts simply because I haven't tried anything else that can do the job right. And while iTunes doesn't actually work properly (it's buggy as Hell), it's got the right idea.

Step 1: Subscribe to podcast
Step 2: Plug in hardware audio player
Step 3: Done.

Having to copy files to the player is a step that you shouldn't have to do. The whole thing should be automated for you once you subscribe. That's kind of the point of the subscription - it comes to me rather than me going out and getting it.

It's sad that there isn't anything out there that really works right. Honestly, this stuff just isn't that hard to do. XML is almost trivial to consume. It's just another markup language. The only hard part is if there are 'updates' to a podcast (e.g. the file size changes in the feed) in which case you do need some kind of error checking. Do you download the update? Do you overwrite the existing file? Do you alert the user to decide? Do you even bother looking at previous entries? Etc. However, that's all easily handled with defaults and preferences.

Well, I suppose the other hard part would be detecting when an audio player is inserted/attached to the computer. You might need to maintain a database of names for that - not fun.

I do think that I'll check out that Ziepod thing. I'm really getting sick of iTunes not syncing my iPod properly. It's really frustrating when I get on the road and the podcast that I was expecting to be there isn't.

tinjaw · « **Reply #6 on:** October 03, 2007, 11:28 PM »

Here is a simple idea. Use the disk manager to assign a special drive letter to your media player when it is plugged in. Something high in the alphabet that isn't likely to be chosen by daily usage. Say, 'Q' for example. Then set up a file synchronization program to synch you download folder with the media player when you plug it in. I think GoodSync will do that. Have it set up to move the files instead of copy, this way you can just delete them from the device when you are done.

Renegade · « **Reply #7 on:** October 04, 2007, 03:36 AM »

Not a bad idea. I'm not sure if it will work with an iPod though. They do some wierd stuff with files renaming things to stuff like "a87gh7ms3.mp3" or other similarly meaningless file names.