Travel Technology - iShuffle replaced by Samsung MP3 player, but what about podcasts

I seem to have lost my iShuffle gifted to us by our employer last year. I mainly use it for 1hr of music for a workout when I am travelling, and also the latest episodes of my favourite podcasts.

So I read some reviews and bought a Sumsung YP-U2JZW. Not sure if it comes with software but I went to get some.

What's not obvious to me is whether/how software like Real etc.. allow me to subscribe to podcasts and get the latest episodes when I connect (like I did with iTunes). Is there a package like that or will I be forced to get software for my music and another piece of software for the podcasts?

Unless there is a hack I don't know about, you are SOL with getting your podcasts on anything other that an iPod or Shuffle. The beauty about iTunes is that it doesn't allow other music players. :D

Actually, there are ways to get podcasts on devices other than iPods :3 Many, *many* alternatives exist to iTunes for getting podcasts--no need to be stuck with Apple's solution.

One of my favourite non-Apple "podcast solutions" is with a program called Juice (which is a freeware, open source program available at http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/) which works with...well, just about any operating system and with just about any device that will play MP3s.

What you do with Juice is you copy the URL of the link you normally import from iTunes (and in fact you should be able to click on the "properties" tab on your podcasts in iTunes to get the URL--most podcasts are in fact distributed by RSS feeds), and as long as the podcast is in MP3 format (which 99 percent of them are) you can download it using Juice as a normal MP3--which you then import to your Samsung per usual.

Juice is pretty much what I used for getting podcasts on my HP iPaq until RSS feed readers became available for Windows Mobile, and I still use it on occasion for convenience sake.

In the cases where podcasts are being distributed in mp4 or AAC format, there are also converters between AAC and MP3; iTunes itself should have this capability, and there is a very good program called Hymn (http://www.hymn-project.org/) to convert iTunes-only format AAC/mp4 files into formats usable by the Samsung device.

(Yes, I've been through the whole "wanting stuff through iTunes but doesn't own an iPod because I see no reason to spend $150 when I have a perfectly servicable iPaq that will play MP3s and do much much more" deal!)

dogemperor

thanks for the info - I will give Juice a try. I thought there must be a way as all my podcasts are just mp3s.

I assume there is no way to somehow "integrate" juice into something like Real?

dogemperor

thanks for the info - I will give Juice a try. I thought there must be a way as all my podcasts are just mp3s.

I assume there is no way to somehow "integrate" juice into something like Real?

If you're talking about RealPlayer, no, there isn't--Juice is a standalone application (then again, I rarely use RealPlayer, preferring Real Alternative--less cruft on the system, leaner, and it does the purpose of playing Real Media files :3). Juice works very well, though, and you can import/export feeds both by copying and pasting and by saving OPML files (which are a common format used for RSS files).

The Juice User Guide (http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/docs/JuiceUserGuide.pdf) has more info on this. (And yes, even being a standalone app, I still consider Juice an essential app :3)

most podcasts produce and mp3 version as well as the AAC version, and even as well as the ENHANCED AAC version. Of course, the mp3 version has none of the enhancements, but at least you can get it. A quick lookup of the podcasts URL will probably take you to the site.

Also, there is a setting in iTunes, if that is what you are using, which allows you to only download the mp3 version of the podcast. Then, you can go to your itunes library folder, find the podcasts folder (if you have organization setup) and then just drag and drop your podcasts to you device. podcasts are not DRM'd, except of the ones you buy from places like audible

Dogemperor,

I have now been using this for some time and generally happy but have one major issue:-

- as I use Juice to download new podcasts episodes (since my last download) but MS Mediaplayer playlists for that podcast dont seem to update automatically so that when I sync I have to manually add the new episodes so that they sync to the MPS player