Desktop and mobile podcatcher syncing?

[anon(12496)]

Hey everyone!

I listen to podcasts a lot, and Google Listen has served me well so far. Now that the spring semester is over however, I will be spending more time at home so I would like to listen to them on my PC. But I will still be listening to them on the move too. What I'm looking for is possibly a podcatcher for windows and a way to keep my feeds synchronized between my phone and computer.

Google Listen uses Google Reader to keep track of the feeds and it marks the episodes I have listened to "read" in the RSS feed. Now I could play the podcasts form Reader, there is the audio player progress bar thing-y for that, but it lacks the practicality of a good player, and it doesn't seem to sync back to my phone. Then there is doubleTwist and other syncing programs, but that is not the functionality I want. As far as I understand, I could add my feeds to dT, listen to the episodes or sync them to my phone, but they would show up in the media player app with the rest of my music. (correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't tried this actually)

So my question is this: Does anyone know of a way to have a decent podcatcher app (like Listen, DoggCatcher, BeyondPod, etc...) on my phone, a decent podcatcher program on my PC, use them separately but still have my feeds synchronized? Is there a syncing program that lets me load podcasts into podcatcher apps? Or is there a desktop podcatcher that syncs to Google Reader?

 

[ragnarokx]

So basically, you want iTunes for Android.

 

[anon(12496)]

So basically, you want iTunes for Android.

I don't know how iTunes works, never used it before, but if it does what I described, then basically yes. I take it, it downloads podcasts from the feeds and then uploads them to the iPhone/iPod podcast player? Technically that's what I'd like to do, only with an Android podcatcher.

P.s.: talking about iTunes for Android sounds so dirty!

 

[ragnarokx]

I just saw this today - it appears to be exactly what you're looking for. Only problem is it's not out quite yet: linky.

 

[anon(12496)]

Yes, I tuned into the Google IO keynote broadcast yesterday and Froyo is definitely amazing! And it brings the much sought after media syncing features. Now trouble is, the only way the Hero is going to get Froyo is in custom ROMs. That, or I can buy a new phone... My wallet cries already.

Oh, and I actually tried doubleTwist today. As I thought, it copies the podcast audio file to the SD card, plain and simple, and I can listen to it in the music player. Now the music player lacks Basic Podcatcher Function #1: remembering where I left off. So dT is a no go, I will continue to experiment. Since nobody seems to know of a good way to do this, I will keep you informed if I find something!

 

[anon(12496)]

The internet is a big place, and so if one is willing to dig deep enough, one can find almost anything. Podcast syncing across devices through the cloud exists! There's a server, gpodder.net, that does exactly what I was looking for. Compatible clients can synchronize their feeds and episodes, right down to download status, playlist and where you left off on one your episodes. You can even manage your feeds on the web interface if you log in with your account. That's the good news. Guess what's the bad? No Android client of course.

 

[HdHunter]

Hi gang - Is anyone still discussing desktop and mobile podcast syncing? I've been using Grover Pro to keep my podcast subscriptions in synch. The have both their desktop app and phone app. Is there anything available on Android?