roaminggnome wrote:
Why not subscribe to it?
http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iPhone_UserGuide.pdf
First of all, there is no way from just within the iPhone itself to subscribe to a podcast. Secondly, even if you do use your computer to subscribe to the podcast, then the iPhone still will not automatically download new episodes of the podcast +even though it is constantly connected to the internet 24 hours per day!+
Then, when I connect it to my computer and sync it (which honestly, I don't do very often, because I am rarely able to access my computer due to the fact that I travel a lot), even though I have iTunes set to automatically sync all unplayed episodes of all podcasts, it still does not sync them. For example I just synced my iPhone yet the most recent version of BBC World News is from 10 days ago! WHY?
Frankly it's dumb that the stupid thing would need to be connected to a computer in order to get the most recent podcasts and download them into its memory. Why can't it just do it automatically? Why can't I make a desktop icon on my iPhone home screen that automatically links to the most recent version of a podcast? It's ******** that I can't do this. Apple needs to fix it.
Because currently, even after going through alllll these steps:
1) Travel to my house
2) Turn on my computer
3) Connect my computer to the internet
4) Find the podcast I want and subscribe to it in iTunes
5) Connect my iPhone to my computer over USB even though they're both already connected to the same wifi network!
6) Sync iPhone with iTunes
7) Don't authorize two weird rogue songs that never authorize no matter what I do, so it will actually sync
8) Disconnect iPhone from the Mac
So now, as usual, I get in my car to go on one of my daily long road trips. I simply want to be able to press one button and play the podcast so that I do not have to try and navigate through a million button presses as I am driving. I can handle pushing one link on my home screen, which is why I want that. But instead here's what happens as I am in my car:
9) Open iPod App in iPhone
10) Click the <- arrow to get out of the song I'm in
11) Click "Podcasts" button
12) Scroll down and find the actual podcast I want to play out of a longggg list of 60 or 70 podcasts
13) Select "Global News" (BBC)
Annoyed, I notice despite the eight steps I took above (1 thru 8), still, the most recent podcast from BBC Global News on my iPhone is from 10/30. But I want to hear TODAY'S news, not news from 10 days ago!!! So I now have to do this:
14) click "Get More Episodes..."
15) Wait as iPod app closes, and iTunes app opens (why are these two separate apps, whereas on the Mac, they are one app???)
16) Click "Download" on the most recent episode
17) Read error message that says "Item Over 10MB... Connect to a Wi-Fi network or use iTunes on your computer to download "GlobalNews: 11 Nov 09 AM". Click OK.
19) Click on the podcast itself and settle for just "streaming" it.
Let me ask you, oh iPhonistas, why in the **** can't it just download this over-10MB podcast, if it's perfectly capable of streaming the entire thing? How is streaming it any less data intensive than just downloading it? In what way is this not
stupid? Sigh.
Why do I have to go through 19 steps? What is the point of "subscribing" to a podcast if the latest episodes do not auto-sync with the iPhone? Why can't you subscribe from the iPhone itself? Why can't the iPhone automatically download new episodes rather than wait for you to stream them after a million button pushes to find your way to the proper screen for that? Why can't you make quick-links for podcasts on the desktop home screen? Why is this process so convoluted and idiotic?
Message was edited by: Jonathan Gilbert
Message was edited by: Jonathan Gilbert
