BeyondPod Podcast Manager, Superior Podcast App Loaded with Features

by Paul Wilks May 17, 2011 7:00 AM – 3 Comments

Install

BeyondPod Podcast Manager. Read RSS feeds, download, listen and watch podcasts directly on your phone. Full featured Podcast Manager (podcatcher) and RSS feed reader. Subscribe to RSS/Atom feeds, download, listen or watch podcasts directly on your device. Google Reader integration, flexible download scheduler and many more.

Price: Free 7 day trial, then a full license for $6.99

Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content rating – Medium Maturity

AndroidTapp.com Android App Review:

Pros & Cons:

Pros

Colossal range of features.
Ability to either stream or download podcasts.
Integrates with Google Reader.
Download scheduler.
Intuitive controls.
Advanced filtering and storage options.
Can be set to delete podcasts when you have finished listening to them.
Smart Playlist, creates playlists for you based on your tastes.
2 widgets
“Sleep” function.
Supports video podcasts (vodcasts)
Can incorporate you own sound and video files.

Cons

Lite version is sadly only a 7 day trial. Full version is $6.99 so you’re going to have to be pretty serious about podcasts to buy the app.

BeyondPod Podcast Manager is a fully featured RSS feeder, podcast streamer and downloader. It has a intuitive podcast manager which lets you subscribe to all kinds of podcasts and RSS feeds. It is genuinely the ultimate in podcast applications. The range of options and features is staggering, if podcasting is your thing this is everything you could possibly want in an podcasting app.

Features:

What first sets this apart from other podcasting applications is that you can download the podcasts and listen to them without streaming glitches. The streaming options are fine, but obviously if you are not on Wi-Fi the signal can sometimes dip. By letting you download the podcasts, you can listen blip free whenever, and wherever you want to.

The download manager is a powerful tool that gives you full control over what you download, where and when. You can choose what connection you download on, don’t want your download allowance hammered by podcasts while you are out? No problem, set it to only download when you are on a Wi-Fi network.

The Smart playlist feature is a great idea, whether you want to discover new podcasts to listen to or are a complete beginner and don’t know what to listen to, this feature is very cool.

Huge resource of podcasts to access and download. Plus you can integrate your own files and listen to them through the player. The sleep feature is cool too. This automatically switches playback off a particular period of time.

I genuinely feel I have only scratched the surface with the amount of features BeyondPod is capable of, even though it’s nearly $7, if you listen to podcasts this as absolutely essential.

Watch on Mobile

: BeyondPod Podcast Player

: BeyondPod Accurate Searching

: BeyondPod Variety of generic podcast searches

: BeyondPod Subscribe to feeds

: BeyondPod Select to Download or Stream

: BeyondPod Popular feeds

: BeyondPod Widgets

Usefulness:

The sheer amount of control you have over the listening experience is incredibly impressive. The app appears to have been designed solely with users in mind and as such, the usefulness to you is superb. It’s like a smart application that gets to know you and works just the way you want it to. Being able to download podcasts and listen to them whenever you like is a superb function, making BeyondPod vastly more useful that those you have to stream files through.

Ease of Use:

The menus, searches, options, etc. are quite complex but well worth taking the time to explore. It is easy to use, but beneath the surface it has a host of options to discover.

Frequently Used:

If podcasting is you thing, this is a daily use app, even hourly if you are a little obsessed.

Interface:

Simple, intuitive, smooth and functional.

AndroidTapp.com Rating

(4.8 out of 5)

Should you Download BeyondPod Podcast Manager? Ok, this isn’t a cheap app. Buying the full version certainly demonstrates a commitment to using the application. On this basis, if you are a regular podcast listener BeyondPod is well worth the money. If you only listen infrequently then perhaps this is a bit expensive an investment. The fact that the app allows you to download, integrates with Google Reader and can incorporate your own sound and video files are a massive plus. In short, this is the absolute king of podcasting applications, but the price means you really have to be a fan of the medium. If you are you will be blown away by it. Give the 7 day trial a go, if it’s right for you I’d guarantee you’ll buy the full license.

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Developer: BeyondPod Team

Tags: Android App, Android Apps, AndroidTapp.com App Review, beyondpod podcast manager, download, media, News, Podcast, Podcasts, RSS, RSS Feeds, RSS Reader

Categorised in: News & Weather

3 Comments

By Matt on May 17, 2011 at 9:36 am:

Boo Sorry, but I MUCH prefer Doggcatcher. They share some features, but Doggcatcher been around far longer, the developer is totally tuned in with what his users want, and he’s constantly improving the app. I don’t know about that stuff for Beyondpod, but I’d be willing to bet that it’s not as feature rich. The number of options Doggcatcher has on a per-feed and global basis is staggering, and so very welcome for avid podcast listeners like me.

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By Gunderstorm on May 17, 2011 at 11:07 am:

I am also an avid podcast listener and can attest to BeyondPod’s commitment to meeting users’ needs. I’ve used it for a couple of years now. The team has been very responsive to feature requests, often replying to my emails personally.

And BeyondPod is also LOADED with features.

My only complaint with BeyondPod is the focus on attempting to be your RSS reader as well. Just stick to the audio and do that well, please.

In discussing price, the author fails to note that $6.99 is the same price of Doggcatcher (which is obviously the app to beat in this arena). Perhaps this is the going rate for full-featured podcatchers.

Both BP and DC have 4 1/2 stars in the Market, however BeyondPod has 12% more raters.

Reply
By AnnDroid on May 17, 2011 at 7:35 pm:

Good article. I have been using BeyondPod since my Windows Mobile days. When I first got my EVO, I was very disappointed that BeyondPod wasn’t available at that time. I tried (and paid for) DoggCatcher. While it has many good features, it fell short of BeyondPod, in my opinion. Maybe they’ve added alot of features since last July?

I don’t listen to music, just tech podcasts and news. I get alot of use out of BP’s SmartPlay.

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