Downcast – Great podcasting app

I love listening to podcasts. The problem I had with listening to lots of podcasts is the workflow of how Apple sets up podcasts is very cumbersome to say the least. Lots of time in iTunes which is what they want ultimately so you buy more music, books and videos. I listen to 3-6 hours of podcasts a week in the summer that could spike to 10+ so finding a better solution than iTunes.

I found two apps that would do the job. Downcast and instacast are the two biggest apps out there that provide full podcast functionality. Both were great here is why I chose Downcast.

Downcast –

You have the choice to download, stream live or mark for later.
You can subscribe to whatever podcasts you want directly from your phone.
It remembers where you left off in the podcast you are listening to like an audio book
You can create separate playlists.
The customization features are fantastic.
Because you can stream the content it frees up space on your phone for other things.
You can share the podcast you are listening to via email, twitter, facebook, evernote and many more.

If you regularly listen to podcasts say 2 or more a week you really need to look into downcast.  I love it.

Here is a full list of current features.

Features
+ Search, subscribe to and download audio and video podcasts of any size
+ Video and audio AirPlay support
+ Manually subscribe to podcasts via URL
+ Sync podcast subscriptions, playlists, settings and episode information via iCloud
+ Download podcasts automatically (including resuming downloads)
+ Continue podcast downloads in background (per iOS restrictions)
+ Browse and download older podcast episodes
+ Auto-update podcasts
+ Settings for auto-download and episode retention (globally and per-podcast)
+ Import podcast feeds via OMPL
+ Export podcasts and OPML files to your computer and other 3rd party apps
+ Support for password-protected feeds
+ Play audio in the background (for supported devices)
+ .5x, 1x, 1.25, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x, 2.5x, 2.75x and 3x speed playback
+ Chapters support for enhanced podcasts
+ Stream episodes without downloading
+ Control audio with Bluetooth or other headphone remote controls
+ Create and edit “smart” playlists
+ View podcast details and episode show notes
+ View embedded images in podcast episodes
+ Rename podcasts with long or unwieldy names
+ Gesture support
+ Integrated help
+ Sleep timer