Downcast Podcast Catcher

When you’re talking education reform, pondering new ideas, there’s nothing so powerful as hearing other people discussing the subject. Sometimes, reading about it in a blog entry, reflecting on a journal article doesn’t quite get the concept across…I have to listen to someone discuss it, tear the idea apart and then reconstruct it. The process of reconstruction helps me do the same as a listener.

As much fun as it’s been to create and publish podcasts with my iPad, one of the features I was missing after having mislaid my iRiver T10 was listening to them. Believe it or not, I’ve found myself occasionally catching a podcast here or there while on my computer, watching/listening to a Google+ Hangout, but for the most part, podcasts have gotten to be a bit of a pain to listen to. It’s my own fault, of course.

This evening, as I got back in touch with my podcast-listening roots. While I’ve tried Apple Podcast app, I found it’s dependence on iTunes on a computer to be a pain (I hate iTunes–even with its new adjustments–and try to go as long as possible without synching my iPad to iTunes). To that end, I set out to find the right podcast app for my iPad.

Some of the features I was looking for:

1. I wanted to be able to subscribe to a podcast RSS feed right from the iPad.
2. I wanted to be able to search existing podcasts out there without having to rely on iTunes at all.
3. I wanted compatibility with OGG and MP3 audio file formats.
4. I wanted simple, easy, and fast.
5. Low price, or free.

Easy to add podcasts via RSS and subscribe right from within the app…iTunes not needed.

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