I guess by "good podcast support" I mean that in my experience (and I do keep trying), I can't find any computer program other than iTunes that does what I'd expect with podcast subscriptions. Meaning: Check the RSS feed with regularity, add the new metadata for any new episode (including episode notes and image), download and keep according to rules that I set, and remember my place if I stop and come back to it.
The closest I've found for Windows is Miro, which isn't terrible but the interface isn't great and the image support could best be described as "bug-ridden". Also the thing gives you a page of ads when you open it.
I really wish somebody would do a better job. iTunes for Windows is really bloated, and I've mostly abandoned the idea of using a program to listen to local MP3 files, so it functions as just a podcatcher - all of these iPod helpers are not doing me any favors. I wish someone would make something lightweight or alternately do the Spotify/GoogleMusic approach for podcasts. Or hell, Google Music could just support podcasts. Seems pretty obvious - grab the stream and put the files in the same place where all your albums are stored, stream to the subscriber from there. Maybe one day, I know I'm not a good enough programmer to handle it.
I was wondering how many people were having problems with the changing system I've had for the MP3 tags. I think the system should be pretty standardized now.
- Song Title = Episode Name (without number)
- Track Number = Episode Number (this gets confusing for bonuses and extras)
- Album = Year (The "Season" thing was kind of arbitrary)
- Artist & Album Artist = The F Plus
- Composer = whoever edited the episode
- Genre = Podcast
Anyone have a problem with that implementation, or a suggestion on what to change? I'm thinking next time a non-standard episode gets released I'll just leave track number blank.
Also, it's better for us if people just download the episode once and listen to it at their leisure, since repeatedly streaming the same episode means our server takes a hit every time, but that'll probably change this weekend as we explore hosting alternatives. It would be nice to not care about bandwidth, but we're gonna have to pay more to not care.
(also if and when we change the MP3 hosting around, I'm gonna redo all of the metatags, so they should all be consistent to the rules above)