91–100 of 105 posts
That lousy, disgusting 'new' Music.app on iOS 5.0 (on iPad) was the reason I bought an iPhone. I just couldn't stand that app (I listen to audiobooks quite often).
- A podcast app that's separate from Music. They're really two entirely different tasks, and I don't like losing place in a playlist just to listen to a podcast, and vice versa.
- Buttons for skipping forward and ahead within a track.
- Never losing place in a podcast when switching tracks. This was a huge problem with the popup playback controls, where it's far too easy to hit rewind instead of pause.
- The ability to download and update podcast subscriptions directly from the device.
- Syncing listened/unlistened and playback state between devices.
I think they've covered all of my issues with podcasts, and it's a beautifully designed app (I have a particular fondness for reel-to-reel decks). Well done, Apple.
Apple's highly questionable and deeply unfortunate skeuomorphism kick continues unabated. Now we're treated to a radio dial which died out in 1995, and playing podcasts presents a reel-to-reel, which died out in god knows when. It's completely bizarre. I guess podcasts are a form of talk radio, but tying them to some ancient radio technology that anyone under the age of 18 will have never touched is mental. They're e…
First of all it provides a visual cue as to the rate at which a podcast is being played at, a constant cue rather than an indicator that has to be found and read. For that reason, on a purely practical level it is useful. More importantly though you seem to be suggesting that an interface should never make reference to the technologies that preceded it, for fear that a teenager might be made aware of something they'v…
Smart, and again more expressive than a label.
About 80% of my walking around time is spent listening to podcasts, and I've been waiting for this for a long, long time. Namely: - A podcast app that's separate from Music. They're really two entirely different tasks, and I don't like losing place in a playlist just to listen to a podcast, and vice versa. - Buttons for skipping forward and ahead within a track. - Never losing place in a podcast when switching tracks…
I use Downcast and like it a lot. I wasn't a major podcast person before --- I'd grab the "podcast version" of the latest episodes of things I'd listen to on NPR --- but having a client keep up with all that stuff for me is a bit of a revelation.
I understand why Apple felt the need to create this app. The current method of managing and listening to podcasts is split between iTunes and the Music app, and holds on to old models of syncing between the computer and the iPhone / iPod. It's a mess, and that, of course, is why there are third-party apps that have been doing a better job for podcast enthusiasts. Unfortunately, this is bad news for the makers of the…
I understand why Apple felt the need to create this app. The current method of managing and listening to podcasts is split between iTunes and the Music app, and holds on to old models of syncing between the computer and the iPhone / iPod. It's a mess, and that, of course, is why there are third-party apps that have been doing a better job for podcast enthusiasts. Unfortunately, this is bad news for the makers of the…
I think anyone who listens to a lot of podcasts is still going to want a more serious app. I've never heard of Pocket Casts, but it looks really nice. I use Downcast and I see no reason to switch and lose features. Apple's not going to build auto playlists or server fetching.
I am not saying that they should not publish their own versions of these apps. All I am suggesting is that the right thing for them to do is to financially recognize those who paved the road ahead of them.
To be clear, I am not and have not been affected by any of these Apple-released apps. I do fear the potential to come-up with something popular only to be taken out by the mother-ship.
I like the radio dial, seems like a nice way to browse the different categories. But this Podcasts app is missing 1 crucial feature it looks like - no ability to let you know the podcasts you are subscribed to have new episodes. I'm hoping that is expanded upon in iOS 6. Otherwise you still have to rely on syncing with iTunes.
Have you switched the "Subscription" toggle on for any of the podcasts you have? (Note this also reveals an "Auto-Download" toggle.) From the Episodes view, tap on the podcast itself at the top. I haven't had any podcasts update in the last few minutes, I don't think, so I haven't been able to test it.
The thing I find really odd is the recommended podcasts in the catalog.
So many of them don't have pictures, and many that do have pictures that aren't descriptive at all (just a person's face, no way to know it's a knitting podcast). And the picture is all you have to go by, there is no text unless you press the little info button.
I'd expect podcasts will start adding pictures now that they have another reason to, but I'm surprised Apple didn't filter out such podcasts from the top lists. It seemed very un-Apple-ly to go to a category and see up to 50% of the entries in some categories are just placeholder images. There is also no way to tell which don't have images and which are currently pulling the image over the network.
I'm glad. The Music app is pretty bad at podcasts.
The download model doesn't seem as neat as the itunes separation. I keep current on my podcasts on my desktop, and I "catch up" on my iPhone. There's no way to trail behind a podcast (I use "sync 5 oldest unplayed").
Also, it didn't resume playing after receiving a phone call. Not a big deal, but it's another annoyance.
For the time being I put the Podcast app in a folder and switched back to the Music app. I personally find nothing wrong with the Music app and will continue to use it - whenever I upgrade to iOS 6 I'll probably take a look at 3rd party podcast apps.
Lately I have been having this thought that Apple ought to do the right thing and compensate app publishers when it chooses to, effectively, take them out with their own version of their apps. From an ethical standpoint I really don't like the idea of them watching, learning, observing and then damaging those who put lots of time and effort into understanding a problem and developing solutions for them. They've done…
I'm being easy on Apple by talking about hardware items, I know. Apple's worst sins are when they rip off software. And it's frustrating how sometimes they'll buy it (Coverflow) and sometimes they won't (Watson). The way they go about it feels mean. But it just shows how competitive they are. Ruthless even. They'd rather play dirty and win than lose with honor. It's hard to stay mad at them though because they do it all with such good taste.