Podcaster Back On Sale

We have been on hiatus for a few months while we took care of some business. As of today, the app is back on sale and back in full development. We will be improving the current version of our app as well as creating a brand new app for podcasts that will take advantage of new iOS 7 features. As always, feel free to contact us about any issues you have or just to send us a nice note.

Podcaster HD available soon

We are a few weeks away from launching a big brother version of our popular iPhone app Podcaster. We are now looking for testers so if you are interested, email us tester [at] podcaster [dot] fm.

Podcaster is looking for a few good devs

Podcaster has grown over the years and it's time for us to build up our services. We are looking for developers that are familiar with GAE to help with the services we offer (Search, Push, Hosts). We are also looking for a great designer to help redesign our homepage/website to better suit our awesome app. Besides the web, we want to extend Podcaster to other platforms so if you are a Android or Windows Phone 7 dev,  we need you.  Lastly, we need a social media evangelist that will post about our app on twitter, Facebook and other site.

If this sounds like you, please contact us info [at] podcaster [dot] fm

How to setup Podcaster to automatically download and delete episode files.

Podcaster will automatically download new episodes and deletes old episodes.  This can be controlled with 2 settings.

"When new episodes are available...." setting
 This is applied during a refresh for each podcast as Podcaster finds new episodes.

"Episodes to keep" setting
Old episodes are deleted from disk as a new episode of each podcast finishes downloading. That means that even if you have this setting set to "keep only unplayed episodes",  played episodes will remain on disk until new episodes are finished downloading. The titles remain in the app for history purposes. You can hide all played episodes by using the 'Auto-hide played episodes' setting.

A few things to note, if you change either of the 2 settings, the settings are not applied until a new episode is found or a download has finished. Refresh and Download Queue cannot start if the app is in the background but will continue in the background for up to 10 minutes after it has started.

Also, Podcaster 3.7 and earlier had a feature called "Clean Disk" This deleted old downloads and removed the history. This was taken out for the sole reason that if you had all episodes played, then you ran a cleanup and all episodes got removed (including history), the next time you refresh that podcast, all episodes would be found and redownloaded again.

We hope this helps most users. Please post questions to the comments area. 

Win a copy of Osmos for iPhone

We are in the giving spirit. We are giving away a copy of Osmos for iPhone, a really cool iPhone game. To enter, go to http://www.facebook.com/PodcasterApp/posts/185384078144904 and leave a comment. That's it, we will choose a winner tomorrow 12/18/2010.

Where are the crash logs?

Each time you sync your device, crash logs get transfered to the computer. Those logs can be used by developers to track down bugs in an application.

To get the crash logs, sync your device, then look in one of the following locations

Mac OS X : /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter\

Windows Vista: C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter\MobileDevice\

Just zip up the crash logs for Podcaster and send them to us. You will greatly help us resolve the remaining issues in our awesome app ;-)

Alex
Developer

iTunes Gift Card Giveaway - Podcaster

We are giving you a change to win a $15 gift card as a way of spreading the holiday spirit. We will choose a winner at random on December 15, 2010 at 3:00 PM EST.

To enter:
All you have to do is become a fan of the Podcaster facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Podcaster/113817798670115)

The contest is open to all U.S. residents. Email us if you have any questions.

New and updated site

We have recently redesigned http://www.podcaster.fm. The site includes an overview and features information with links to our Twitter, Facebook and Blogger pages. Also, contact, support information, Podcaster manual for quick lookups, and a link to our forums for answers to your questions. We have included a feedback button, where you can shout out an idea, report a problem, ask a question, or if you'd like, just say something nice. It is always super great to hear everyone's ideas. Keep those emails flowing.
Thanks. :-)

3.7 now available

Podcaster v3.7 with background downloading is now available in the itunes store. Update now!
For those that have not gotten around to getting Podcaster yet, get v3.7 for free at http://podcaster.fm/promocodes
Some promo codes still available, hurry! ;-)

Apples new AppStore Review Guidelines might put an end to Podcaster

Yesterday Apple announced new rules for the app store and we want to just mention several that might put a stop to future Podcaster development.

8.5 Use of protected 3rd party material (trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, otherwise proprietary content) requires a documented rights check which must be provided upon request

This has already affected the the directory in the app. We had to remove the feeds that Apple asked us and move them out of the app to http://podcaster.fm/search.aspx. 

9.2 App user interfaces that mimic any iPod interface will be rejected

We made out Now Playing screen look similar to Apples iPod screen because people are familiar with the control. We have several icons and buttons that Apple does not have so maybe it's enough of a difference. 

9.3 Audio streaming content over a cellular network may not use more than 5MB over 5 minutes

9.4 Video streaming content over a cellular network longer than 10 minutes must use HTTP Live Streaming and include a baseline 64 kbps audio-only HTTP Live stream

Our app allows users to stream content and if Apple makes us stop streaming, it will make a lot of users unhappy. This will not affect anyone that download the feeds over 3G.

We are not sure how much has changed from the previous rules so we might be able to get away with it but it's still a  guessing game. We currently have Podcaster 3.5 in review so we should have an answer by end of next week.  

UPDATED: Podcaster 3.4 is NOT missing features.

UPDATE: We just want to let you know that we are not blaming the user for the confusion.  We made a change to the UI and had bad communication with users about the changes. We are simply frustrated with the app store review process. We plan to be more clear in future releases.

We have had several users complaining in the reviews  about missing features in the 3.4 update. Had the users bothered to look closer or ask us directly, we could have cleared everything up but since we can't get in touch with them, we will try to clear it up for new users going forward.

Podcaster 3.4 did not take away any features of the previous version. The app still includes a scrubber to skip anywhere in the episode, a 10+ second skip button, 2x playback and continues playback options. We simply moved it to make it look and act more like the iPod app.

To reveal the controls, you simply touch the image at the top right of the screen. The entire show notes area will flip to reveal a larger image as well as the missing controls.

Touch top right button to reveal more controls

Controls visible over large image

If controls hidden, simply touch image to make them appear

We hope this clears things up for most users. We will try to clarify this in future version of Podcaster.

Please take a minute to rate and leave a review for Podcaster. 

Podcaster 3.4 available in app store

The new update to Podcaster is now available. It brings several UI improvements and a lot of bug fixes as well as new sync settings.

We have made podcast details look similar to the iPod app. It makes it easier for new users while maintaining the ability to skip commercials, download episode and perform other actions.

We went through the code with a fine tooth comb. This is our best version of Podcaster yet. It has the least bugs and runs great.

New sync settings bring with them the ability to download all new episodes and keep all unplayed.

We are sure the new update will make your experience much better.

Get it now in the iTunes app store.

Here are the updates readme text
3.4.2 (Available in app store)
Fixed now playing button bug

3.4.1
Revised UI for the player view

3.4
New sync settings for downloading ad keeping new episodes
Better support of headphone remote and lock screen remote
UI display fixes
Improved podcast feed parser
other fixes all around

****************************************

Your 5-star iTunes ratings and reviews help us a lot and make the updates possible. If you love Podcaster, please leave us a review in the App Store.

Join Podcaster on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/iphonepodcaster

Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/iphonepodcaster

Thanks for all your support!

****************************************

Difference between Podcaster and RSS Player

We have made a chart of some of the key differences in the older RSS Player 2 app and the new Podcaster 3 app.

	RSS Player	Podcaster
Runs on IOS 4	YES	YES
Runs on iOS 3	YES	NO
Background Playback	NO	YES
Can use iPod remote	NO	YES
Resumes audio	YES	YES
Resumes video	NO	YES
Import OPML from web	YES	YES
Import OPML From email attachment	NO	YES
Coninues playback of video & audio files	NO	YES
2x playback speed	NO	YES
Refresh on a schedule	NO	YES
Improved UI	NO	YES
Hi Res Icon / Interface (Retina)	NO	YES

We hope that this helps clarify things. If you need help, please read the users manual at http://podcaster.fm/help and you can post questions to http://getsatisfaction.com/rssplayer.

Please take a minute to rate the Podcaster app version 3.3 in the app store (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/podcaster-formerly-rss-player/id377195245?mt=8)

Podcaster now available in App Store

Podcaster 3 has been approved for sale in the App Store. Some of the most exiting features include background playback and iPod remote integration. Check it out today http://bit.ly/podcasterapp

We plan to put out frequent updates so be ready for that.  We already have a small update to push so expect that in about a week. 

For support, email us support at podcaster dot fm or report problems to http://getsatisfaction.com/rssplayer

Push notifications are currently turned off. We will get them on in the next few weeks. 

Follow us on twitter.com/@iphonepodcaster to get up to the minute news and promo code announcements. 

Podcaster, new iteration of RSS Player, available June, 2010 with iOS 4.0

We are podcast fans. We want to download them as soon as they are published.  We want to listen to them everywhere we travel. We don't always have access to a computer.  That is why we created RSS Player for iPhone OS 2 in 2008. In December 2009, we released RSS Player 2 for iPhone OS 3.0.   RSS Player has remained in the Top 20 paid apps in it's category since then. It is a one of a kind product in the app store and has remained a daily used app by it's users.

Now we would like to introduce Podcaster for iOS 4.0.

Podcaster has improved tremendously over it's predecessor. Some of the more exciting features include background playback, iPod remote integration, faster refreshing and more accurate downloading and resuming.

Podcaster will be available with the released of iOS 4.0 in June, 2010 for $0.99.

Podcaster is an entirely new app built form the ground up. It has a new architecture, new database structure and new directory structure.  Upgrading users from RSS Player 2 would not be practical.  We ask everyone to please purchase Podcaster to replace RSS Player 2. We are sure you will be satisfied.

RSS Player does not work on iOS 4.0.  We ask you to please backup your podcast list before upgrading to iOS 4.0. With the release of Podcaster, RSS Player 2 will not be available in the app store. 

RSS Player 3.0 Roadmap

It's been a while since we have made an announcement and we feel it's time to update our users on whats been going and what we want to happen in the future.

RSS Player has been holding steady between spot #15 and #20 on the Top Paid News Apps in the iTunes store. While most user experience is positive, we have been getting some negative reviews and complaints. We hear you and plan to fix most bugs and problems for our next version.

We are planning to releasing RSS Player 3.0 in time for the iPhone 4.0 release. RSS Player 3 will bring such features as background playing and refreshing and some integration with the ipod app. We are also planning on releasing an iPad version of RSS Player 3.0. At some point in time, it's not clear if the apps will be free updates or new application.

Because of how much is going on with RSS Player development, we are looking for people that want to help the RSS Player community.
Some of the work that needs to be done includes

• Coding in objective-c and c
• Moderating the podcast directory
• Designing graphics
• Answering user support questions
• PR/Advertising 
• Twitter support
• Facebook support

If you love podcasts and are interested in helping out, please email us with a brief explanation of what you would like to help with. Compensation will be determined based on task.

UPDATED: Tutorials and FAQ's for RSS Player coming soon.

Want to help RSS Player and get something for it. Check out this announcement we made about writing some tutorials and answering some FAQ's. It will get ya some iTunes Gift Card love.

See http://gsfn.us/t/rcpw for full details.

UPDATE: We have put up some help files created by several users and us. Please check them out directly at http://podcaster.fm/help/iphone or from the Help tab in the RSS Player app.

Best App Ever :: Nominate RSS Player Podcast Client for Most Useful App

It's award time again and we need help from our users and fans to nominate RSS Player as the most useful app. Please follow the link in this post. Best App Ever :: Nominate RSS Player Podcast Client for Most Useful App

RSS Player 2.1.1 now available in app store

We just received word from Apple app review HQ that RSS Player update 2.1.1 is approved for sale in the app store. As always, iTunes takes a while to refresh so everyone will start to see this update over the next few days.

We made 2 main improvements to the app. The first has to do with what happens when you get a new episode alert. When you open the app immediately after you get an alert, the app will refresh only the podcast from the alert. Previously, all podcasts would be refreshed. The second has to do with the way the app connects to remote servers, we did not pass a user agent string. This caused a lot of servers to deny our requests. We are now passing the standard iPhone safari string.

The next improvement we are planning to make is reworking our crawler to try to be more memory friendly. This will fix a lot of random crashes some users have been reporting and also improve refresh time and app stability in general.

You can get the app today and tomorrow for a sale price of .99 cents. Tell your friends and remember to leave update your rating and review each time a new update comes out.

RSS Player 2.0 Live in the App Store

As of November 25, 2009, the brand new and improved RSS Player 2.0 has been excepted into the app store. The app will sell for $2.99. We are really excited about the new release as it brings push notification of new podcast episodes. It comes with the ability to set alerts for up to 5 podcasts. An option to purchase 20 more alert slots is available in the app.

Over the next few weeks, we will be submitting bug fix update so if you experience a problem, please first re-install the app and then report the problem to our support system.

You can purchase RSS Player in the iTunes App Store today. Please remember to rate the app in iTunes.

As always, we have promo codes to give away to bloggers and reviewers so please email us for that at promo at rssplayerapp dot com