Apple released its own podcast app today. I was eager to try it out because I wanted something that easily and reliably kept my podcasts in sync between my computer and my iOS devices. I was hoping that would be the killer feature of the Apple in-house solution.
I spent the time adding each of my podcast feeds to the app on my iPhone. I checked iTunes on my computer... nothing. I loaded up the app on the iPad... nothing. I even plugged the iPhone in and synced it to the computer. Nothing. Apparently you have to add the feeds on each device, and then it will keep your play position in sync. I didn't try it, but I read that is how it works. I don't feel like going through and adding each of the feeds 4 separate times so for now this is a no-go for me. I will continue to use Instacast.
The interface of the app looks pretty good and playback is easy enough. It doesn't have all the features I am used to with Instacast, but it isn't a bad offering. For a free solution it is fine, especially if you just have a computer and one iOS device. That would be fairly easy to set up. I'm kind of locked into Instacast for now and I am okay with that, even though the syncing between devices isn't perfect... and there is no ability to sync to the computer.
Also that app icon for the Apple podcast app is horrible. I wouldn't want it junking up my main screen. I may give it another try if I have some free time to add podcasts to all my devices individually.
Update - I could be wrong but the app doesn't seem to have 1.5x speed, which is how I listen to pretty much everything. Looks like I won't be able to use it.
Filed Under: app, Apple, Instacast, podcast