4 Great Features in iPhone 3.0 for Podcast Listeners

iPhone No Comments »

smart-playlistSmarter Playlists

I previously posted a screencast Managing Podcasts with Smart Playlists in iTunes about how you can better manage listening to multiple podcasts using the smart playlist feature in iTunes. In short I create a smart playlist that lists all podcasts that I have not yet played (to the end). I can then sort that playlist by size, title or date before I sync to my iPhone.

This great feature got even better in the iPhone 3.0 software because now this playlist is getting updated on the iPhone. Each time I go into this playlist it removes shows that I have listened to already on my iPhone.

maccast-iphoneDouble Time

I subscribe to 60 podcasts (yes that is not a typo) but now with the new 3.0 software I am running out of content because I am using the new feature that lets me play back podcasts in twice the time. I find most (non-music) podcasts to be very listenable and some hosts to actually sound better at twice the speed. The software speeds the rate without making the speakers sound like chipmunks.

What was that again?

When that motorcycle drives by or the host gives some phone number of URL you can now quickly go back 30 seconds to hear that again. That is a big improvement over trying to scrub back to the right spot.

best-podcasts-Amateur-TravelerSharing is Good

When you are listening to a podcast (like the Amateur Traveler podcast which was recently one of the hot podcasts according to my iPhone) and you want to share it with a friend you can now click the email icon to send a friend an email.

All of these features combine to make what was a good listening experience even better.

iAno – a Piano On Your iPhone

Cell Phones, Music, iPhone No Comments »

An application that turns your iPhone into a piano! I have not seen this in real life but when Gabe from God’s Mac showed me this video my first thought was “is this real!”. How very cool. Apparently Gizmodo thinks this is real. They also have a link for PocketGuitar which turns your iPhone into a guitar. It may be time for me to jailbreak my iPhone if cool apps like this are out there. Apple, where is that SDK?

Notes from the 2007 PNME (Podcast and New Media Expo)

Podcasting, Podcasts, iPhone No Comments »

I got back last Sunday from the PNME conference in Ontario, Californa. This is the biggest conference of the year for podcasters and it is a wonderful combination of smoozing, presentations, hobnobbing, and networking with other people who are also obsessed with podcasting. Tim and Emile Bourquin (The Podcast Brothers) did another wonderful job on the conference.

Some of my thoughts…

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