need help organizing stations

Question

Level 1

8 points

need help organizing stations

In stations, I can’t figure out how to organize JUST the podcast show. Instead it’s showing the most recent episode of the podcasts I put in there. That means I have to click the current episode, then navigate a bunch more clicks to get to the episode I’m on. Essentially I want the station to be a group of the shows in a particular category, not an episode list. Possible? (It’s bad enough that the podcasts can’t be listed chronologically— these settings were not made by anyone who ever found a new podcast and wanted to binge three seasons. The designer of this basically thinks we are listening to podcasts on a regular schedule and only want to see the recent episode! What gives! )

Posted on Jul 5, 2018 8:05 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Heather Hollick

Level 1

106 points

Jul 5, 2018 8:37 AM in response to julielause

Your frustrations are valid. The completely revamped podcast app that came with iOS 11 has been a dog's breakfast of settings and confusion.

The good news is that, I think, everything you mentioned is configurable. Try these steps and see if they help.

Tap on Library at the bottom of the screen
Tap on Shows and scroll down to one of the podcasts you are trying to include in your station.
Tap the purple ellipse and tap 'Settings.'
Chose 'Custom Settings' and adjust the five options that become available to your liking. For example, it sounds like you want episodes to be in the 'Oldest to Newest.' Set 'Limit Episodes' to whatever makes sense to you. I have of mine set to 'Off.'
Tap 'Done.'

Now navigate over to the settings for your station.

Tap on the station and tap 'Edit.'
Set the 'Sort by Options' to your preference. I gather that you would prefer 'Oldest to Newest.'
Tap on 'Settings' and choose the settings that make sense for what you are trying to achieve.
Tap on 'Choose Podcasts'
Scroll down the list of podcasts and tap on each podcast that you want to include in the station. You will see a checkmark by each podcast included.
Tap on 'Station Settings' to return to the previous settings screen. Note that from this screen you can also tap on each podcast in the list at the bottom and adjust the settings for how many episodes to include from that podcast.
Finally, note the "Group by Podcast" option at the top of the Stations Settings screen. If that is off, then all of your podcasts will be interspersed in chronological order (assuming you have selected 'Oldest to Newest').

Good luck. It's all pretty confusing but stick with it. After a lot of tinkering I have been able to restore about 70% of the functionality that I used to have before Apple decided to rewrite this app. (To my dismay, I still can't sync playlists from iTunes, but lo, I digress.)

Reply

Answer 2

Jul 5, 2018 5:41 PM in response to julielause

You are right, the blog 'Station' is showing episodes from various podcasts that have been assigned to that station.

Do you have an entry at the top of the Library tab called 'Shows?' If so, is this what you are looking for? It lists every show to which you are subscribed.

If you don't see 'Shows' at the top of the Library tab, tap 'Edit' in the upper right corner and enable 'Shows.' Ta[ 'Done' and you should be back at the Library tab.

Now, tap into Shows and you can peruse episodes as you describe above.

Here's a screen shot of my Library's tab in edit mode with 'Shows' enabled.

Reply

Answer 3

julielause Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2018 1:16 PM in response to Heather Hollick

Hi Heather-- thanks for your quick reply. I am still struggling to get what I want.

I've done all the things you suggest and the stations are still just listing episodes.

So when I click on "blog" (one of my stations) I get a list of episodes from different shows. See pic. Instead of this, I want a list of shows. Basically, I have to click three more times to get a list of episodes from this show the way it is now. (I click the icon, and it starts playing the episode. Then I have to click the window where it's playing, then click the purple title of the blog which takes me to the actual screen I want to appear. Then I have to click on "available episodes" and then I get the list I want to actually get when I click the first thing from the station. Does that make sense?)

Instead, I want to actually be able to click on the show itself, the way the podcast ap actually lists "shows."

Reply

Answer 4

julielause Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2018 8:29 PM in response to Heather Hollick

Yep, I have that view. But because I have so many podcasts, it's hard to keep them straight. Like you, I want to have a place where all my politics podcasts are, separate from my fiction podcasts, etc.

The biggest problem is that it's too many clicks and scrolls to get to what you want no matter what you do. And because I'm often changing podcasts during road trips or during carpool, it's a problem that I have to do so much work to get to the episode that I want. It doesn't look like the station selection is going to help me. Not sure why they have stations anyway since the episode function gives you the latest unplayed episodes (which is what the station does).

Reply

need help organizing stations

Similar questions