Why Microsoft is Still Ignoring Podcast on Windows Mobile?
Way before the iTunes, iPod, RSS, Podcast time. There was an application from Microsoft called Plus! Sync & Go that ran on the desktop PC and the PocketPC.
The app offers a convenient way to transfer Windows Media playlists, individual tracks, and a wide audio/video selection of news and entertainment from sites including: MSNBC, Warner Brothers Music, Tech radio, Golf video channel and NPR.
Using Sync & Go offers the convenience of schedule-and-forget-it updates, providing automatic synchronization of any content selected as part of Sync & Go, which keeps headline news stories and other frequently changing data fresh to the storage card on the PocketPC.
That was in the early 2000, Microsoft killed this app on the following versions of PocketPC OS..
The reason I brought this back is I am still not happy about Microsoft dropped the ball what what has become one of the hottest application today And will all the buzz lately with WM7. What mentioned is all about the UI…
Since then, Dave Winer and Adam Curry invented the RSS and Podcast. Apple took the opportunity to basically own the name and totally adopt this phenomenon ever since.
Lots of people are still thinking they need the iPod to listen/watch to Podcast while I have been using Windows Mobile device for that purpose for the longest time. I admit without a elegant solution such the defunct Microsoft Sync & Go or iTunes/iPod, I have to rely on several free open source components but it is a one time setup and the heavy load is performed in the background during off hours.
- Juice Podcast Aggregator on my desktop to download all my podcast (background task)
- MobSync to sync from my desktop to my Windows Mobile Storage card (background task)
- Playlistmgr to create a new playlist with the latest contents on top and launch the player (WMP or CorePlayer)
I know there are solutions to stream or download directly on the mobile device. But I’d rather use my method (described in details HERE) . In the morning, I just grab my WM device, connect to my car stereo and enjoy all fresh contents for my commute. See the video HERE!
Yesterday, I ran into a new open source project call Pocket-Podcasts, which consists of a desktop component to aggregate and transfer to WM device and a WM component that can run as standalone to download Podcast or it can manage Podcast transferred from the Desktop. The playback is handled by TCPMP/ffmpeg plugin.
After a quick download and test the solution. I found it is very buggy and not ready for prime time. The download function on the WM device bring the entire Podcast (40MB) in RAM, etc…
But I hope it is still work in progress. You can check out the Pocket Podcasts project HERE.
If you have not tried Podcast, please take it for a spin. I am sure you will enjoy them as much as I do.
Weekend Fun: Lean To Play Guitar With PodcastMicrosoft Zune Starts Embracing Podcast? - MobilityGuys Podcast #8 Zune 1-Click Podcast Subscriptions TabletPC/Origami from Microsoft Marketing Perspective |
No comments yet.