Hands on: Podcasts 1.2 is the one Apple should have shipped
Like a lot of people, I was hardly bowled over by Apple’s first stab at its Podcasts app. It didn’t support playlists, didn’t sync podcasts between devices, and its Now Playing screen was split into two pieces—one of which featured a reel-to-reel tape recorder interface that, while cute for those who had some notion of what such a device was, took up a lot of space and provided very little useful feedback.
With each update, Podcasts has improved slightly, but version 1.2, released on Thursday, is the reboot that we’ve been waiting for. Playlists (called Stations) have been added, iCloud syncing has been implemented to ensure synchronization between devices (and with iTunes on your computer), and the Now Playing screen is a single unit that blessedly lacks the tape-deck interface. Let’s look at these highlights.
Station to station
Fire up Podcasts and you’ll now discover a My Stations button at the bottom of the screen. Tap it and you’re taken to the Stations screen. Here you find three entries—On the Go, Most Recent, and All Unplayed. A number bubble to the right of each entry reflects the number of episodes that either haven’t been played at all or have been only partially played. To create a new station just tap the New Station button. You’re prompted to name and save your station. A sheet (iPad) or screen (iPhone and iPod) pops up, displaying all the podcast series that are on your device.
Playlists (aka Stations) finally come to the Podcasts app.
You can choose to include all your podcasts in the station or just those you’ve selected. By default, they’re all selected, so just tap those that you don’t want to include. When you’re finished, tap Done.
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