AC Asks: What's your favorite podcatcher?

[michel24]

Finding the right podcatcher is a real pain. Everybody needs very different behavior. And testing only a few is very long.

I have a lot of feeds i listen only in my car when doing long trip. So listening to 10 BBC podcasts, then 10 Nasa podcasts, then... is a bit boring.
And there's some shows i want to skip and listen later, and some i want to skip forever.

So for me they're all good, but misses 2 functions (unless I haven't foud them):
- play randomly between all shows.
- in play mode, 2 ways to skip. Like 1 button "play next and mark as read", and 1 "play next and mark as unread"(or choose the next one in the playlist).

Beyondpod seems the best for me. With smartplaylist i have a kind of random function.
I find it very complicated though

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Google Listen!

 

[kindaskimpy]

Listen by Google is the one I'm currently using... I'm considering Dogg Catcher though

 

[jhilker]

Initially worked with Google Listen, but was very buggy. Moved to Doggcatcher, and liked it very much. However, I've tried Listen again, and I've gone back to that - like the integration with Google Reader.

 

[rutkind]

I have used LaunchCast for a while now on Blackberry, but have been having troubles with it on Android. So I think I'm gonna give Listen a listen(haha corny joke).

 

[mjaydakid]

I tried Listen for a while but it seemed a bit buggy to me. I am now testing Mediafly. I see no one is recommending it. It seems like a pretty good player so far. Its free. Plays video and audio podcasts with a lot of suggestions in each catagories.
I still have Listen loaded up in case this don't pan out.

 

[cobra302]

i used mediafly on my iphone, it worked pretty well, but i think you had to stream and it didnt cache locally right? is this the same with the android version?

 

[monkeyzero]

I tried Listen but it never would update my subscriptions after the very first time so I deleted it. I was loving dPod until I flashed to DamageControl 2.0 today and now it says No Music Found every time I try to listen to a downloaded file. I'm thinking about doggcatcher but I kind of need to know if it works with the ROM before I pay for it. Either that or anyone got a fix for dPod? I'm slowly finding out I'm the only person in the world with the combination of a flashed ROM and dPod. Just my luck...

 

[Stang68]

Listen does the job just fine, but Podtrapper (for Blackberry) was simply awesome. Apparently it is being worked on for Android!

 

[BrandonGoodman]

Google Listen is great. The new integration with reader is a big plus. The one big feature that nobody seems to offer thatI would be willing to pay good money for is variable speed playback. I guess the built-in Android media player doesn't support it and apparently hats what all the apps on the market now use. But man, this is the only single bit of functionality that I miss from my iPhone. I could burn through twice as many podcast at 2x playback.

 

[monkeyzero]

So I downloaded Doggcatcher yesterday, it's now my pick for podcatchers. For $7 it works perfectly, updates properly, integrates reader, search function is well done (except it doesn't know what Tha O Show is), easy to use, well organized, customizable, etc.
Can you tell I dig it?
I listen to around 10 or 12 weekly podcasts and subscribe to around 20 RSS feeds to read. For me, it's the shizzy.

 

[greydarrah]

Does DoggCatcher work for Audio Books. That all I listen to and PodTrapper (for bb) did a great job of stuff like auto bookmarking.

 

[tony bag o donuts]

google listen is what works for me....I cancelled my sirius radio because between here and Leo Laporte I don't need no stinkin' radio

 

[Bigfire]

Tried to set up Google Listen last night but couldn't get past a pop up that indicated I didn't have a google account for it to sync to....that is not the case.....so what would be the advice for someone looking to use this app or anything to avoid paying for a $7 podcatcher.

 

[SdotJ]

I'm in the same boat I recently got back to the official 2.2 with the evo and Google listen has not worked since I was on 2.1. I'm looking for a free solution that's simplistic like listen was.


Update.......
After looking through the market I have found a free solution. It's called dpod , its simple yet effective as I only needed it for android central podcasts. It even plays through your stock music player (which ever one you actually use )

 

[gonzlobo]

Ah... gotta revive this dead thread.

Google Listen has been an absolutely dreadful, buggy podcatcher since froyo was pushed.

It seems every post on their discussion board (listen-discuss | Google Groups) complains about users not being able to register or they're having problems with podcasts restarting at 0:00:00 for whatever reason. The developers don't respond at all to bug reports and the app hasn't been updated in months.

So, my question to you: Which non-Listen app do you use for podcatching?

My needs:
* Uses Google Reader
* Downloads podcasts without a synching to a bloated, omnipresent media program.
* It needs to be configurable so it only downloads when connected to wifi or while the phone's being charged.
* allows the user to reorder the playlist (Listen isn't too good at this).
* Playing video would be a plus (Listen doesn't play video)

 

[nickf126]

Doggcatcher meets all of your requirements. Great app. Well worth the $7.

 

[volwrath]

Doggcatcher meets all of your requirements. Great app. Well worth the $7.

How does doggcatcher interface with google reader? I didnt see that on their website.

 

[Charmed Juan]

PodTrapper

Podtrapper is now available for Android.
I loved it when I had my BB. Missed it when I got my droid.
Now it's on my Dinc.

 

[markevans]

Doggcatcher:

Like: You can play video podcasts as audio only. For me this is a nice plus, because while I like watching the video versions, I sometimes like to multi-task and play the audio in the background.

Like: Nice widget

Dislike: You cannot sort the podcasts alphabetically. Note, you can manually sort the list, but I wish alpha-sort was an option.

Dislike: Seekbar doesn’t indicate where you are in the podcast when you are dragging it to a new time. I sometimes listen to part of a podcast on my computer and then need to find that place on my Droid X. Right now, you need to stop seeking, check your time location and adjust as necessary.

PodTrapper (beta):

Dislike: I was having a problem with video podcasts. They would stop playing when you changed screen orientation. Most of the others that I have tried always display the video in landscape mode (which is fine with me)