With my iPod approaching its first birthday, I figure I should post my gripes now instead of waiting a few days until it actually dies, because at that point, these issues will be moot.
I post these not just to whine, but in the hopes that (a) another iPod user will tell me that I'm dumb and then give me instructions on how to do what I want to do or (b) someone from Apple will visit my site (and I don't mean a lawyer protesting my use of the term iPod in this post) and realize that maybe what I want is a decent idea.
And, as it turns out, I'm a big podcast consumer. Besides redeeming gift cards I receive, I am a big consumer of podcasts. So my complaints largely surround podcasting shortcomings in the iPod and/or iTunes.
First off, Video Podcasts... I hate how if you click on a video podcast from the Podcasting menu, it just plays the audio while showing the cover art. This isn't intuitive. It should play the video. Why, oh why, do I need to go into the Video category and then into Video Podcasts. Is not a video podcast a podcast? (Is not a square a rectangle?)
Second, playlists and podcasts... I subscribe to several short podcasts (weather, news) and some longer podcasts. It would be supremely ideal if I could drag a subscription into a playlist. So that any new podcasts from that subscription automatically populate the playlist. The clickwheel is not the easiest thing to use when driving. It would be cool if I could build my own "news station" by having it play through a playlist made entirely of podcasts.
And again, podcasts... If I'm looking at a list of songs and I click on a song, if I want to move to the next song in that list, I press the forward arrow key. Why can't I jump from podcast to podcast within a subscription in a similar fashion?
It really feels like the podcast portion of the iPod user interface is not as intuitive as the rest of the iPod experience and that the fixes would not be that difficult. Can someone get tasked with the 30 minutes of coding and 8 hours of testing this would need so it could be pushed out to iTunes?
Please, please?
And again, if I'm just a moron and these things are all currently doable with an iPod, please let me know.
2 comments:
re: Video podcasts... my iPod predates video iPods... why would you want to watch something on a 2 inch screen anyway? If you're a teenager stuck on the bus to and from school... maybe watching videos on a 2 inch screen is sort of cool, but we full grown adults own actual TVs. In other words, I cannot offer help on this one.
re: playlists and podcasts... there's a way to do it... it used to be set up before I swapped out my hard drive, but I set it up so long ago I have forgotten how. I'll have to get back to you, but it is (or was) possible.
re: And again, podcasts... If I know I'm going to jump between podcasts, I plop them into a playlist individually, at which point I can do exactly what you seem to want to do.
I don't know if it is less intuitive as much as it delivers them (or downloads them) to one portion of iTunes and forces you to go through the trouble of clicking and dragging them to another portion of iTunes (what's that take... a few seconds?), at which point you get 90% of the features you want instantly. I mean, your iPod doesn't update podcasts unless it is connected to your computer with iTunes running, at which point you can set it up to do pretty much whatever you want it to. So I guess I'm wondering where your frustration is... is it that you have to moderately predict your listening/viewing habits in advance?
I believe I've had my iPod since July of '04. The only complaint I have is that the iPod protector I bought from Apple is no longer sold. It was simple, cheap, black, with a clip for one's belt... all the new ones are goofy looking, non-utilitarian, and overpriced.
Conveniently, I left it in the car so I can't look at it to see where I went wrong. It's almost as if it just decided not to copy the playlist to my iPod or something.
But yes, I don't want to drag. I just want certain podcasts to automatically appear in a playlist without having to do anything. And then I plug in the iPod while I eat breakfast and then when I get to the car, I've got the weather, the and the latest brain food and lost podcasts ready to play.
I use the iPod extensively when walking at work on my breaks. Since most podcasts have stuff I don't care about at the end, I'd like to jump to the next one. Perhaps the playlist didn't copy or something weird, so I'll revisit that.
So perhaps I've missed a step, but perhaps also it doesn't work the way one might expect. Call that a draw. More research after I get around to going down to the car.
As to why I'd want to watch stuff on a tiny screen... There's usually some nice little Homestar tidbits to watch and iTunes is always giving away shortform videos and TV show pilots. Those are also great for when I'm walking. Or a long trip to the bathroom. Or when my wife is asleep and I can't sleep but I don't feel like getting out of bed. Screen's plenty big enough for times like those. And since my bedroom, the outdoors and none of my home or work bathrooms have video screens, it solves a purpose.
Notice the theme of laziness.
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