

Ask HN: Need a good podcast catcher for Android phones. (And a bit of a rant.) - billpg

Hello everyone.<p>With the imminent closure of Google Reader, I need to replace my podcast player, Google Listen, which uses the Reader API to manage feeds and track what I've listened to.<p>I've downloaded a handful of alternative apps, but they all lacked a feature I find essential - The "In the order I want" sort criteria. Not sort-by-name or sort-by-time, but sort-by-what-I-want.<p>For context, I drive to work, around 45 minutes each way. There's no-one in the passenger seat and there are very few places I could safely pull-over. Pushing buttons on the display while I'm driving is right out.<p>With Google Listen, new episodes start at the back of the queue. Often, there's one episode I want to move to the head of the queue. Sometimes, I won't be in the mood for the next episode in line so I'll shuffle something else ahead. Google Listen does this by showing a menu for each episode with a 'Move to the top of queue' option.<p>Once I'm happy with the next hour or so worth of stuff at the top of the queue, I hit play and drive off. As the first show finishes, its taken off the queue and the next episode I had queued up starts playing, all without any interaction.<p>The few alternative apps I downloaded did not offer this.<p>Some people reading this, I'm sure, are thinking "He wants a playlist manager". No. Create Playlist. Add episode to playlist. Play Playlist. Delete Playlist. No. Take those away.<p>All I want is a button on each episode labelled 'Move to the top of the queue'. That's it. If I have to perform some ritual every day to create a new playlist or whatever before I can get that button, I'm not going to be happy. Life is too short for pointless ritual.<p>So, follow-HN-peeps. Does anyone know of a good podcast catcher that works this way please?
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swanson
Sorry that I don't have an answer that fits your reasonable requests - but I
really like Pocket Casts on Android. It does the auto-play stuff, but you can
only order by date.

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billpg
Thanks for the warning. I'll take Pocket Casts off my list.

