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[park]

Just looking at itunes again, for the first time in a while, and must say that podcasts really feel completely integrated into that program.

I think that it's partly to do with the magazine style layout of the podcasts page in the itunes store. Feels like you can really find new stuff there. It sort of inspires you to have a look around a bit more. With MC i tend to only add podcasts when i see them while browsing on the net in firefox.

Maybe MC could choose one podcast directory as it's defualt, or hook up with someone providing a similar service.

The other thing that impressed me, was it's podcast options in the handheld (ipod) options. There, you can set which podcasts you want to automatically upload each time.

I've never really uploaded podcasts to my ipod in MC before, because I would have to choose which ones to copy across in advance (using my system of synchronising my ipod). I suppose I could make a smarltist with some name and date rules, but my head hurts thinking about that.

What do others think about MC's podcast support?

[benn600]

Let me say that MC can most likely do everything iTunes does with podcasts and more.  You just have to know what you are doing and carefully craft and engineer search strings to create playlists that list only items you want.  If you only want ones not listened to, then remove those from by putting "-" in front of the number of plays string.  These features are so powerful but they seem to be lesser known and obviously, more complicated than a checkbox.

[dcwebman]

I have a friend that I've been touting MC to for a year. He finally started evaluating it and the first thing he told me was that he loved the way it handles Podcasts. I'm not exactly sure what software he was using before but apparently MC is better.

[benn600]

It all goes back to my first statement.  MC has the power to do anything--you just have to know how to use the tool.

[BartMan01]

What do others think about MC's podcast support?

Good but still lacking.  For the record, iTunes is no better.  If you are using iTunes to set your bar, then that bar is not set very high.  One thing that both do (that annoys me) is re-write the main tags on the file without giving you the option to leave some or all of them alone.

For downloading and managing podcasts, both are about on par - and both are lacking when compared (feature wise) with dedicated podcatching software.  That being said, since Apple threatened to take all the podcatching software apps to court over the use of the term 'pod' in their name the state of said software for the PC is in a bit of disarray.  Most of what is currently available is buggy, beta, or no longer supported software.  The other issue with dedicated podcast software is that they are designed to work directly with WMP or iTunes.  It takes a little effort to get the files into MC and re-tagged if needed.

For putting podcasts on to an iPod, iTunes gets the edge since it fully supports the iPod (as should be expected) and just does things that MC can't or has trouble with.   For example, MC currently destroys 'on the go' playlists and can't create dynamic play lists on the iPod.  MC also doesn't set the 'listened too' flag (blue dot) on podcasts.  For managing all of your music on both the PC and the iPod, MC wins hands down.  The iTunes to iPod sync features that are missing pale in comparison to the features lacking in iTunes when you compare MC to iTunes.

MC doesn't have the power to do 'anything' when it comes to podcasts and the iPod.  It is a very robust and flexible program and it does what it was designed to do very well, but it is not perfect and still has plenty of room for improvement.  Podcast support is a recent addition, and the current feature set reflects that.  While I fully expect it to get better over time, it's not quite there yet.  It is 'good enough' that I currently have most of my podcasts being handled by MC.  iPod support is also lacking compared with what is possible.  Again, it is 'good enough' for me to use it to currently manage my iPod.