Digging into podcasts
By Ronald O Carlson
Apple’s finally delivered the ability to download and enjoy podcasts on the iPhone and iPod touch without first connecting to a Mac…
Back in September, Apple refused to sell Podcaster via the iPhone AppStore because it competed with a feature in iTunes. Never mind that the feature wasn’t available yet.
At the time, the only way to listen to a podcast on your iPhone or iPod was to download it first to your Mac and then transfer (yes, there’s an automagical way to accomplish that) the podcast to the handheld device. Not exactly convenient and the source of much angst considering Podcaster offered real relief.
Although Podcaster did eventually make it to market via Apple’s AppStore beta mechanism at $10 a pop (ouch), the rest of us have waited for months for Apple to finally deliver over-the-air Podcast support for the iPhone and iPod touch. It would truly be wrong to say it’s all been worth the wait (why did we have to wait at all?), but for this user at least this functionality is transformative.
How can I tell if what version I’m running?
OK, when I left the house to pick up the kids, iPhone 2.2 was downloading and when I came back… I can’t remember if I clicked OK or even if there was any indication the update actually happened.
Well, thankfully for full-time mums and dads, or otherwise overwhelmed and just plain forgetful people, it’s a pretty simple to figure which version of the iPhone OS your Apple handheld is running.
iPod or iPhone connected to you Mac?
Open iTunes Click on your handheld in the tray on the left Click (if necessary) the Summary tabOut and about (not connected)? Go to the home screen Press Settings icon Press General Press AboutYou will be presented with a listing (see image, right) of your iPhone or iPod touch’s vital statistics. From the number of songs stored on your handheld to its hardwired MAC address it’s all in there. And, happily enough, so is the snippet of info we’re after—the software version number!
The interface is simplicity itself with What’s Hot, Top Tens and Categories tabs that aren’t over full (ie no endless scrolling on the top level). On my home network (7Mbps Roadrunner shared via 802.11g), the interface is very responsive and that’s partly due to my reasonably fast connection and to an intelligent interface that’s designed to deliver fast refreshes.
Also, you can access podcasts via “Music” (ie podcasts you’ve already copied to your iPhone) and via “iTunes.” That is, you can download the latest editions of things you already subscribe to or even browse + taste + subscribe to new podcasts.
Yes, how satisfying over-the-air podcasting is is highly dependent on your connection. This is a brilliant example of “build it and we will want more” because this is all about quality of service and the available selection of content.
Given that iTunes is, bar none, the absolute richest podcast repository, with the software in place, Apple’s role has largely been fulfilled. Now, AT&T needs to keep building out their 3G and wi-fi access point networks.
This is a virtuous cycle that seeks more users (ie more revenue) by offering more content and bigger and better network for the same amount of money — brilliant!
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