[Macworld]

Post your comments for Best ways to listen to podcasts in iOS 6 here

[ptesterman]

After having the misfortune of using the podcasts app for a few days, I would say 2 stars is being incredible generous. The interface is horrible. The app keeps pausing in the middle of a podcast, it doesn't sync with iTunes, need I go on? To top it off, they crammed all the navigation buttons along the bottom, so if I'm listening in my car and reach up to back up 30 seconds it's incredibly easy to hit rewind and end up at the beginning.

Perhaps this is a 'first attempt,' but it's replacing a very mature and functional app and pushing out such an inept attempt at mediocrity is utterly inexcusable. I think Bill Gates is taking over Apple

[Leonick]

Well since the fixed the syncing in the podcast app I find it excellent, it's better than the music/video app ever was.

I know there are alternatives, but I don't know of a single one that let me run a client on the PC that keeps track of all my podcasts and downloads new ones that can then be synced to my iPhone and iPad, With my connection I don't want to have to download every episode on every device.

[tatilsever]

"Apple has already released Video and iTunes U apps, and it’s possible that, in the next version of iTunes due to be released by the end of this month, this content will no longer be managed by iTunes."

Sorry, I am left behind your logical jump. As you said, Video has been a separate app for years, but iTunes still manages videos. What makes you think this version of iTunes will suddenly drop podcasts?

[tatilsever]

"If playlists are important to you, there’s an easy solution: Delete the Podcasts app."

Thanks for the suggestion. This was one the primary reasons I was dreading the upgrade to iOS6. Now, I just have to wait for 6.1.

[kirkmc]

Quote

"Apple has already released Video and iTunes U apps, and it’s possible that, in the next version of iTunes due to be released by the end of this month, this content will no longer be managed by iTunes." Sorry, I am left behind your logical jump. As you said, Video has been a separate app for years, but iTunes still manages videos. What makes you think this version of iTunes will suddenly drop podcasts?

Because the app lets you subscribe to podcasts, and can sync your subscriptions in the cloud. Videos doesn't do anything but play the content you sync.

[jrarseneau]

Something to remember if you listen to podcasts in the car:

Most car stereos will recognize podcasts if they're in the Music app as Apple's APIs will expose them - allowing you to use your in-car stereo controls to navigate podcasts, play/pause, etc. If you're using an app such as Podcasts app or Downcast/Instacast, etc, you will lose this functionality.

I use Downcast but it's incredibly annoying when I get in the car and plug my phone in because I have to load downcast, find the podcast I want and then hit play before driving off.

[ubc]

Change the MEDIA KIND tag of all of your podcasts to MUSIC (or maybe AUDIO BOOK?). Problem solved.

[TheTSArt]

I greatly miss being able to share podcasts from my iTunes library to my iPad. Now I end up downloading some podcasts twice and they seem to only ever want to stream as I have to have an internet connection to play them. Sometimes I have to repeatedly hit play to force them to continue streaming.

What's weird is sometimes I go back to the Mac and find my playback position is exactly where I left it on the iPad. I guess it's using my AppleID to figure that out?? Only works about half the time though.

I didn't think anything could get worse than the Videos app in iOS 5 on the iPad, but I was wrong.

[StephanieMcA]

Thank you for trying to help. This is the most amazing step backwards.

I gather that if I delete the ap off of my devices and unclick using the cloud, I can get about 25% of what I had. What I had and want is mass updating of my subscribed podcasts, auto movement of the podcasts into my "recently added" playlist and sequential playing of them with no attention from me.

I can get part way there still without the ap, but as you say the playlist won't show up on my devices, and lacking that I don't have much access to them. Huge bummer.

[muchospanish]

For me, the Podcasts app is fine. I listen on the way to work, so I don't need many features. The app no longer crashes.

The one thing I don't like is the catalog. It's harder to read that used to be. I'm not sure what I'm downloading. It doesn't even seem to be organized by date.

[natsec]

I listen to a lot of podcasts and have a smart playlist for all unplayed episodes of my preferred daily listening, sorted by date released. It's simple and pretty flawless for listening and syncing between iTunes on the Mac and Music on iOS... it's a perfect system actually. Podcasts app ruins this completely, in every way that matters. Big icons instead of simple lists, no sorting across multiple shows, no consistent syncing, and half the app is now a store I don't care about. None of this would matter if Apple didn't insist on creating the weird situation of removing podcast features from the Music app when the Podcasts app is installed. I'm glad there's a way to avoid using this app for now.

I can appreciate the desire to update, change, and hopefully improve an experience. Sadly Podcasts app is more of a design experiment than a functional application and certainly not an improvement. I just hope the team in charge of this app is capable of of putting as much polish into core functionality as they were at creating that spiffy reel to reel tape recorder animation.

[jowie]

I migrated from iTunes to the Podcasts app a few months ago. Although it suffices for most of what I want, I have a subscribed to a podcast on iTunes via a custom URL and want to synchronise it with my iPhone. Is there a way of doing that without messing up the podcasts I already have on my phone?

[gthore]

Even after deleting the horrid app, I wasn't able to combine spoken word, audio book files and podcasts into a single playlist in Music. As such a playlist is a companion on my daily walks, I was forced to convert the podcasts to AAC format for a temporary fix. This is time and space consuming and I resent that Apple needlessly tampered with this function.

"Upgrading" should add features and/or expedite usability, not complicate or remove functionality - would that I could downgrade! Regrettably, my final solution was to order a Samsung Galaxy S3.