[gariac]

The developer of bPod has clearly been working on the app. About all it lacks now is the ability to play video. It is no longer free, but is well worth a dollar. In fact, I need to send the developer some money since the upgrade works on the beta, but I feel mega-guilty for getting it for free.

The major upgrade in my opinion is better parsing of the XML feeds. It used to bug me that text in the XML did not appear on the app. That is all fixed. The developer also made it clearer where each podcast description starts and stops.

I'm unloading Noblex now, though I suppose if you want to stream your podcasts, you can keep Noblex. Trouble is it seems to have problems regarding obeying the setting to use wifi. BPod doesn't have that issue.

Posted via CB10

[whofrank]

Hmm let's see, bpod has a ui and icon design from 90s hell.

The nobex design is beautifully simple.

Nobex is free oh oh

Oh dear

[whofrank]

So I downloaded the app to see if it had improved and to support BlackBerry 10 developers and the interface is still pretty bad. All it needs is help with the fonts, image placements and alignments etc. Icon should be flat imo

There are some good things about the app like save to sd card but the search function sucks. For instance I searched for bbc a point of view and get no result for it.

[gariac]

When Noblex wastes your data plan when you have wifi available, I don't consider it to be free.

Noblex had its own database. Great if someone has uploaded the XML or RSS for your podcast. Otherwise you are SOL. BPod requires an internet search, but if the podcast exists, you will find it.

This is to say the Noblex scheme looks fancy, but actually is crap if the podcast you want isn't there.


Posted via CB10

[whofrank]

ive added numerous podcasts to the nobex dataBASE. TAKES ALL OF 2 MINUTES UNTIL IT APPEARS. whoops hit caps

also the issue regarding wifi is not true i read it a while back in your thread about it and tested and the problem does not exist

[gariac]

Whoops hit cap????

I verified the Noblex bug, so you did something wrong. Further, I wasn't the one to discover the bug, so don't attribute it to me. I was one of several people to verify it.

If you have the ability to find a podcast XML or RSS link, you have the ability to add that same link to bPod. It is the same process.

Posted via CB10

[whofrank]

I hit caps lock by accident.

[carbon98accord]

Does the artwork on the podcast change as the song changes? For example, I listen to Tiesto's Club Life Podcast which has a variety of songs on there. The artwork (picture for the podcast)will change with the song on the iPhone. I'm trying to find the same thing for my BlackBerry. I tried Nobex and the artwork doesn't change.

Posted via Z10 on CB10

[gariac]

Art work on iTunes is special. It is so special it is driving some content programmers crazy.

BPod only gets whatever is put on the RSS or XML, which is a different feed from whatever apple calls their extension of RSS.

I can see artwork on some of the podcasts, such as on Mysterious Universe, but they don't change it weekly. When it does show up, you hit the "info" tab.

The big advantage to bPod is the use of wifi for downloads and the ability to store the podcast on your SD card. I've deleted Nobex so I can't make a comparison.

Posted via CB10

[carbon98accord]

Im going to test out BPod Lite. Thanks for your input.

[gariac]

Im going to test out BPod Lite. Thanks for your input.

You have to find the feed, so at that point you can inspect it in the browser to see if it has the album art.

The only advantage I ever found with Nobex is the social media aspect of how it kept a list of user submitted feeds. However the feeds didn't always work and it wasn't the fault necessarily of Nobex. What happens is the podcast feed url changes. The content provider leaves the old url online for some reason. So you get a situation where the feed isn't updating. This happened to me with NPR's "On the Media" feed.

I would submit a new corrected feed, and Nobex said they already had it. Argh!

The social media feed list would be a good idea if someone could make it work correctly.

Posted via CB10

[carbon98accord]

You have to find the feed, so at that point you can inspect it in the browser to see if it has the album art.

The only advantage I ever found with Nobex is the social media aspect of how it kept a list of user submitted feeds. However the feeds didn't always work and it wasn't the fault necessarily of Nobex. What happens is the podcast feed url changes. The content provider leaves the old url online for some reason. So you get a situation where the feed isn't updating. This happened to me with NPR's "On the Media" feed.

I would submit a new corrected feed, and Nobex said they already had it. Argh!

The social media feed list would be a good idea if someone could make it work correctly.

Posted via CB10

I had the same exact problem on Nobex, it works perfectly on BPod Lite

[ogerestein]

Hi guys, I tried bPod, and while I love its simplicity, I'm having problems with it. The initial install worked great, I was able to add all my favourite podcasts and downloaded some episodes locally to the device memory. Since then, though, it won't download any more episodes. It just lists them all as "download pending". I've tried turning wifi-only on and off, and I made sure there's plenty of drive space left for new episodes. Any ideas?

[penk]

this just started happening to me, too. based on the timing it may be a bug from the newest update.

[gariac]

Interesting. Contact the developer. You can do that in bbworld.

I've only downloaded to the SD card. I don't like downloading to the device because flash wears out.

I noticed on the settings that there is an option to download the album art each time.

Posted via CB10

[carbon98accord]

I contacted the developer about another issue and got a response back quickly. Hopefully your issue gets resolved.

Posted via Z10 on CB10

[dpeters11]

ive added numerous podcasts to the nobex dataBASE. TAKES ALL OF 2 MINUTES UNTIL IT APPEARS. whoops hit caps

also the issue regarding wifi is not true i read it a while back in your thread about it and tested and the problem does not exist

I do know that for some reason, Nobex requires a network connection to bring up a list of podcasts already downloaded. That's annoying.

For this app, does it happen to have a 30 second skip option?

[carbon98accord]

For this app, does it happen to have a 30 second skip option?

It has a 20 second skip.

[dpeters11]

It has a 20 second skip.

That works. I listen to TWIT's podcasts, and by now I know his sponsors so well, I really don't need to hear about them for 2 minutes.

[gariac]

That works. I listen to TWIT's podcasts, and by now I know his sponsors so well, I really don't need to hear about them for 2 minutes.

Well I learned something. The fast forward icon is the 20 second skip.

I'll be in the TWIT audience this Sunday. Damn, I wish I had a BlackBerry tshirt.

Once in a while the sponsor bits are funny, but I know what you mean. I laughed my *** of the time Steve Gibson said to block all advertisements. He meant on Web pages, which TWIT has as well as on the podcast.


Posted via CB10

[penk]

had some exchanges with Eric, the developer, and with his instruction i was able to work around this. on the Downloads screen, delete the last (bottom) listed item, by tapping it. this should then restart the downloads, and you'll see the progress bar above come to life again.

what seems to be happening is an RSS link or perhaps that particular podcast media file has some issue that causes the download to hang. since it's based on a queue, clearing that should let the others continue. if you let Eric know what that show is (email him the RSS link), he might be able to fix the link for a future release, if it turns out to be a nuanced RSS link and not just a goofy file problem. a show i listen to actually had two episodes locked in queue, so it hung again when it caught up to the second but deleting that one too produced the same restart. good luck!

[Knoware]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the positive input on the app, truthfully bPod certainly wouldn't be the app it is today without your constructive comments and suggestions.

10.2.1 is a great improvement for the OS but it caused a few problems with bpod as some of you have noticed. I've been coding like crazy to fix all the new issues and as of a few minutes ago I uploaded a new release (1.22) to App world which is now pending approval, among other things it includes:
- Fix for instability that started after 10.2.1 update related to resuming podcasts while downloads were underway and user chose to resume.
- Fixes for many URLs that suddenly stopped working and fixed for URLs that never worked.
- Settings for hiding extraneous text (descriptions) to make the app more usable on the Q10 (my work isn't finished on this subject)
- Settings for configuring fast-forward and rewind times (10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 seconds).
- A setting to enable pausing when the audio jack has something plugged in or removed from it.

Have you found a bug or have requests for the next release? I'm all ears.

Cheers,
Eric

[gariac]

I'm stuck on 10.1 thanks to tmob. No wonder it is working fine for me.

Any time you can add a line delimiting section of text, please do so. After I scroll a while, I forget where to click. Sometimes I click on the next episode.

I came across one podcast that turned out to be rss or xml for youtube links. I don't know if this is a trend. Here is the link:
http://virtualskeptics.com/feed/

BTW, is there a way to share the RSS/XML files? Once you put th in bPod, can you get them back in a human readable form?


Posted via CB10

[penk]

hi again, Eric!

- Settings for hiding extraneous text (descriptions) to make the app more usable on the Q10 (my work isn't finished on this subject)

guessing this might shrink the Subscriptions screen back to a usable size? tap to expand or open to an info screen would work. maybe each block starts no bigger than the thumbnail? the previous Built for BlackBerry app i was using (Podcasts) had a nice thumbnail grid for the library, but that was locked to display in the order you added the subscription, not even alphabetical. you could utilize something similar, with the Splat! like you have now indicating new episodes. also, i haven't quite deciphered the "fraction" shown on each.

- Settings for configuring fast-forward and rewind times (10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 seconds).

excellent!

I'm all ears.

i like the standard media player action of displaying a large thumbnail/album art when a file/track/episode is played. so for bPod, could pressing Play then automatically open to the Info tab, not stay on the Playlist? (slightly) larger Play/Pause and navigation buttons could be used on this screen, if so.

i tried to use the Bookmarks feature once, but i have delete-after-listening set, so it all went away. would it get too weird in the code to override auto-delete of an episode if it is bookmarked?


thanks again for your help fixing the funky stuff, and for this most excellent app!

[Knoware]

I'm stuck on 10.1 thanks to tmob. No wonder it is working fine for me.

Any time you can add a line delimiting section of text, please do so. After I scroll a while, I forget where to click. Sometimes I click on the next episode.

I came across one podcast that turned out to be rss or xml for youtube links. I don't know if this is a trend. Here is the link:
The Virtual Skeptics

BTW, is there a way to share the RSS/XML files? Once you put th in bPod, can you get them back in a human readable form?


Posted via CB10

Hi there,

That URL isn't really a podcast feed so there isn't much I can do with it, sorry.

I did add a text deliminter a couple releases ago, have you updated recently?

As for sharing, you can long press on a channel or episode to show a 'side menu' that permits you to share the URL with a contact. You can also go into the settings and backup your podcast database which can also be shared with another bPod user, there isn't however the capability to export all your subscriptions to an ompl/XML file that would be human readable. I might consider implementing this is the demand is there.

Eric