Review: AudioBay Podcast Player

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What Was Wanted:

I wanted an easy to use application for the T-Mobile smartphone that was simple, worked all the time and had some great features. It had to have an auto-update feature, a way to simply add podcasts, be compatible, and work over the many different connections on the . The interface had to be intuitive and easy to learn but still provide full functionality. Audio wise, it needed to work through the built in speaker, the headphones and on bluetooth headphones. I checked out AudioBay from AcroDesign Technologies, to find out if it was what I was looking for keep on reading.

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Install

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First up, the install size was small, 506 KB, which leaves more room for podcasts and music on the

Settings

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The settings are basic but useful. You are given the ability to store the podcasts on the memory card and changing the buffer length for streamed podcasts. For downloads you can setup automatic downloads to happen when you want and how many you want to download (useful for news podcasts). This actually worked surprisingly well. I would wake up and there would be new podcasts on my .

Adding Podcasts

By Location

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This was really cool to see. From you can search for podcasts that originate near you like weather casts, local news and talk shows. If you have a GPS connected you can use that for the location search if you don’t know the zip-code. This feature is useful for the frequent traveler.

By Category

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Adding a by category is just as easy: from the main screen select Find > By Category and you can navigate through different selections. There is a basic listing for the categories but it is enough to get you started.

By Url

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This is by far the most popular method of adding podcasts. AudioBay makes it easy, just select Find > By Url and enter the url to the RSS feed for your favorite podcast. 

By Files

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If you just want to peruse the podcasts already on your device you can navigate to them from the main page by selecting Find > Files.

My PC

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If you have a media server setup on your network you can find files through this method.

Working with Podcasts

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This is where really earns it’s money. The ability to effortlessly access podcasts is one of the requirements and accomplishes this easily. From the main screen there are many options to choose from including Updating All and Unsubscribing. When you are viewing a feed you are given more options. The one I found the most useful is being able to Stream a single episode. This worked really well on T-Mobile’s GPRS network and I encountered no hangups. In viewing a   feed you can choose to Subscribe, Update the feed or view a Details and Descriptions of the episodes and feeds.

Audio

worked perfectly from the ’s speaker, headphones and via bluetooth to every bluetooth stereo headphone I tested.

Does It Make the  Better? 

Pros

  • Many methods for adding podcasts
  • Ability to Stream an episode
  • Auto-download Scheduling
  • Intuitive interface

Con

  • Category Catalog is basic

What should the developer add to it?

Based on the Con above, a more extensive catalog of available podcasts from the Internet would be a perfect addition to . This would make a great application even better.

Is It What Was Wanted?

Yes, it met up with every expectation and need I wanted in a player.  was simple and intuitive to use and worked great with all my data connections. Every morning when I go to the gym I take along my and listen to the news before my music, enables me to enjoy what I want when I want when it comes to Podcasts. The price of $9.95 makes it very affordable. If enjoy podcasts, get AudioBay Podcast Player for the T-Mobile .

I give it 4 and a half out of 5 Shadows!

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Friday, December 28th, 2007 Reviews, Software

6 Comments to Review: AudioBay Podcast Player

Michael
December 29, 2007

The four and a half shadows rating is truly inspired.

rob54
December 30, 2007

Great review! I have to check this player out. And i love the grading system: open and closed Shadows.

Bwana The Iguana
December 30, 2007

The 4 1/2 Shadow made me laugh. Now that’s original. Thanks for the review, I am going to try the software, it’ll make waiting for airplanes a heck of a lot easier, especially when I get my 8 gig microsd next week!! I am exited!!!

Mike Benton
January 2, 2008

Ooooh 8GB! You have to let us know if it really works. You gotta load up 8GB’s worth of stuff though. If it works let us know where to get it!

8GB would hold so much

But yes AudioBay makes Podcasts a breeze

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