SuperPac said:
Is it any fewer clicks than playing a single episode of a specific podcast in the Music app? I think it's the same if you use the "all episodes" category at the top or already have newest episodes cached. If you were in the middle of playing a podcast and are returning to the app it brings you right to that episode so you can pick up where you left off... *shrug*
Yes it is one fewer click.
Music App:
1) Click on Podcast
2) Click on episode to play
Instacast:
1) Click on Podcast
2) Click on episode to play
3) Click the tiny play box which is harder to do while driving.
It's one extra click and it's a bit annoying. I just wanna play the episode and not go to the episode description before I play the podcast.
I could see this being an issue. For me, when I'm in the car, I just keep the app loaded and I usually want to pick which podcast I listen to next anyway instead of just playing the next one on the list even if it goes to it automatically. Generally speaking most podcasts I listen to are longer than my commute anyway.
Well an example is one of the podcasts I listen to is a daily podcast. Sometimes I can get a day or two behind. It would be nice if I could move on to the next episode so I can get caught up. My commute is usually fairly short but the podcast can range from 35 min to 55 min. My commute can range from 25 min to 60 min depending on traffic. So there is definitely a time when it doesn't match up exactly with my commute.
I've never had to do this with a podcast so it doesn't affect me. Is it missing controls that other music apps that play in the background allow? Perhaps it's more a limitation on which controls are allowed through the main system music player than a problem with the app itself.
Yep. The main Music App and Pandora for example let me do this. Instacast does not. It's definitely an issue with Instacast. One thing I like to do is towards the end of the podcast, they start doing closing stuff like thanking people, ending music, and all that other jazz that I would just rather not sit through and move on to the next one. It saves time and allows me to listen to more.
Mine doesn't either (connected through USB), but this has never been an issue for me personally as the audio player in my car doesn't show running time on anything played through AUX.
With iOS5, Bluetooth now sends more data. Instacast needs to be updated or something to fix this. Other things show the current play time. It's nice seeing the playtime on the screen so I can get a feel for how much of the episode is left relative to my commute time. It'll tell me if maybe I can just skip the rest or if I have a lot to go.
After using Instacast I've never wanted/needed to go back to listening to podcasts in the normal music player, so it's not an issue for me personally. Though this may be a restriction within iOS than the developers not including this as a feature.
For me, the only benefit to Instacast is the subscription and the automatic download and deletion upon opening the app. The main music app does a lot of stuff that I mentioned that Instacast does not. It does not have the subscription and auto deletion which is why I'm open to looking elsewhere. Neither is a great solution and both have issues. I would not mind opening up Instacast to just grab what I need and then have all the benefits of the Music App.
That's an odd one. I've never experienced that as I always cache new episodes in the morning and at night - I've only ever used streaming once to listen to an older episode of a show. Have you gone into Settings to check what you have selected for cellular data? By default, "caching" is turned off over 3G (I think), so that may have been part of the problem.
I had caching turned on over 3G. Not sure what happened here. I'm sure it was a fluke as it only happened once. It happened while I was trying to leave the office and it had switched from WiFi to 3G.
Yes. Change your "refresh on start" setting to every hour instead of once a day (the default). Settings for Instacast are not in the app itselfthey're in Settings/Instacast. Alternately, when you start the app if you pull down it'll refresh the list.
I had that set but every hour is not the same as everytime you start up. Say I open Instacast up as I'm getting ready to leave for my drive home and the Podcast hasn't been updated yet. If I try in 10 min, it won't know to try again because it hasn't been another hour. Unfortunately the podcast I try to listen to on the way home gets updated somewhere within a two hour window of when I go home. So it's not always up until the last minute before I leave.
I use Instacast for listening while driving (Instacast and Audible are my two go-tos) and think it's fantastic. I can't imagine going back to iTunes/the music player now.
I see some of the benefits, but I think the drawbacks keep it from being amazing to me. Neither solution is great. I hope there's something better because both fall short and there definitely seems like there could be room for something better.
