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App of the Day

App of the Day: PodCatcher Deluxe

By: , 9/9/2011 4:49 pm | 4 comments

For the longest time since its appearance on the TouchPad, the HP App Catalog was without a proper podcast catcher. Your only choice would have been to use an RSS reader of some kind, or to download the podcast directly to the device and listen to it via the media player. PodCatcher Deluxe by Kevin Hausmann ($2.00) is one of the earlier podcatchers to make it to the catalog- if not one of the first. Although the feature set is a bit slim compared to podcatchers on other platforms, it does the job nicely.

PodCatcher Deluxe splits the screen off into three sliding panes. The far left contains the feed list, the middle contains the available podcasts for that feed, and the far right pane contains some of the controls along with the podcast description. Along the bottom are the various controls to add new podcasts, control playlists, and the play/resume buttons. The feeds have to be added manually in this version, but once added, they can either be streamed via WiFi, or downloaded for playing offline. Pause and resume controls allow you to close the app and come back to the podcast later.

Once a podcast feed is added, all of the available downloads in the selected feed are displayed in the middle pane. The “Downloads” button will display all of the podcasts that are currently loaded on the TouchPad’s USB partition. Swipe a podcast to the right and it will be added to a “Playlist”- a welcome feature that allows you to select various podcasts from different feeds and play them through one after another without interruption. The app can also be controlled via the notification dashboard when it is minimized. We would like to see support for scheduled downloads, OPML import/export, and playlist reordering. As of this writing, listening via bluetooth headphones is not supported (AD2P).

PodCatcher Deluxe certainly satisfies the need for a decent podcast catcher on the TouchPad now since there aren’t many in the catalog at the moment. A limited, free version is also available named Simple Podcatcher. Grab it today!

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About Jesse Mendoza

Certified Computer Geek by day, WOR contributor & radio DJ by night. Loves indie music, Toyoto FJ Cruisers, and running marathons. He still owns all of his Palm devices and will probably go to the grave with them. Follow him on Twitter @JesseJstreet
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  • Karimhfl

    There is no OPML support or greader syncing…. totally useless unless you you feel like manually adding everything… waste of money.

    • Kevin

      Hey Karim, thanks for your comment. I am very sorry to hear that you don’t like PodCatcher Deluxe. I am constantly adding features to the app and will look into OPML support and/or GReader syncing.

  • Kaisson

    I like and use your app keep up the good work

    • Kevin

      Thanks Kaisson, there are a lot of nice and shinny features coming up: I just added concurrent downloads and a podcast finder…