Over the air podcasts gone from Windows Phone after Tango update?

Over the air podcasts gone from Windows Phone after Tango update

Listening to podcasts on the go is one of my favorite pastimes, a groovy mode to catch up with the latest news or a special interest. For those of us who reside exterior of North America, podcast support has been a bit limited to say the to the lowest degree. Dissimilar our pals in the Us, we cannot subscribe to podcasts through the marketplace on either Zune desktop software or straight using the phone. Annoying, simply Mango at to the lowest degree introduced a half-workable solution. Unfortunately, after the Tango update it'south no longer possible to employ that either.

To subscribe to podcasts prior to Tango, first nosotros needed to fix them up in the Zune desktop suite. One time subscribed, only plugging in the phone and synchronising would pass the podcast to it. Podcasts would the automatically download without farther PC interaction. Alas, this is now non the case. What'south going on?

Before, some conditions needed to be met to download over the air: the device had to be both plugged in and connected to Wi-Fi before the podcasts would update. Sometimes the device would not run the task to check for updates. Thankfully from the podcast menu nosotros could manually cheque for updates, bringing up a listing of podcasts. That would normally be enough of a kick to get the phone to check for updates. To be frank, this system wasn't perfect but most of the time it would result in a contempo podcast becoming available every bit you flew out the door.

Subscribing options in a Mango device

Serial settings and unsubscribe options bachelor on a Mango device..

During the concluding week or and then I managed to become the gamble to resubscribe to my favorito podcasts on my Lumia 800 since applying the Tango update. I had a long car journeying to get through and was quite excited to heed to a few podcasts along the way. I checked my device in the machine only to find all the podcasts were out of date. "Ah ha!" I thought, "my car is close enough to the business firm to be on Wi-Fi. I tin can only plug it in and check for updates." No such luck. That ability is no longer there, so I cannot become the phone to cheque for subsequently podcasts. In fact, information technology but does non update the podcasts under any conditions.

Subscribing options in a Mango device

Series settings options - Mango Device - Now you run into them...

Why is podcast support on Windows Telephone so bad when it should be and so good?

Many of us accept been asking this question most since the arrival of Windows Phone. For a nifty many users, information technology is but not possible to scan and subscribe to podcasts from the Marketplace. The Zune desktop software is geo-fenced. It's possible to trick it into showing the elusive podcast support past changing the region, merely a number of reasons make it an unworkable solution. We have to inquire the question, "why is Microsoft making it impossible to get easy access to podcasts?" If you expect at iOS devices, they have outstanding podcast support. They employ it as a positive selling point. I hateful, what better way to sell devices than with the lure of costless content?

Zero Subscribing options in a Tango device

and now you don't encounter them, no podcast options in Tango device...

Here in the U.k., the BBC only offers tons of astonishing complimentary content. The fruit themed company actively promotes this content to assistance bring value to their customers. The BBC as well only released a dedicated app for podcasts, making browsing and subscribing to podcasts even easier. Do their customers love this? Yes! For some people it will be enough to bring them to the platform; it's that good.

i-fruit company know how to handle podcasts

Podcast content from itunes - extensive

Why break the already limited podcast support?

I cannot empathize the decision to farther break podcast support in Windows Phone. If the platform is updating soon, surely tthe feature set should increase rather than decrease. From an OS level, it has needlessly become impossible to automatically call back updates to subscribed podcasts over the air. What is so bad about podcasts that Microsoft take gone out of their way to remove even the most basic of features? Perhaps the devices were not adhering to the Wi-Fi rule when getting new podcasts, leading to unexpected data charges. If this was the case, then why not officially document the feature's removal? Of course there is always the possibility Microsoft never intended to let this blazon of beliefs on Mango devices. What possible reason could they have to justify such a movement though? As subscribing is a wholly transmission affair for those outside the US it should present no legal bug, correct?

Some documentation

While investigating I came across this article on the Windows Phone website. It clearly states that subscribing to podcasts on your phone is not available in all regions. Yes yes, we become that. Higher up that though information technology mentions the 256 MB of RAM requirement being needed to manage podcasts from the telephone. Could the Tango update have introduced a bug that makes the music software recall less memory is available? Maybe, but if that were the case then folks in the United states would have noticed their over the air updates cease too. US readers, delight permit usa know if you've experienced like issues in the comments below.

Over the air podcasts gone from Windows Phone after Tango update

Are there alternatives?

That depends on what you want to accomplish. Sure, there are plenty of third party podcast apps... Some will run in the background, assuasive you to leave the app without interrupting the download. Volition whatsoever of them provide the same core OS reliability to keep running that task in the background? Unlikely. Windows Telephone also has oddities in the manner the music hub works for 3rd party content that doesn't make it a seamless Os experience. It will need to launch the third party app itself in club to play the content.

Sounding off

Windows Phone 8 is on the way. With it, expanded scenarios for background downloading and listening could likewise come along. Whilst it's a distant hope, it'due south likely unrealistic to think MS will all of a sudden aggrandize podcast support afterward crippling it in WP7.five. We only need to look at Windows eight to see how highly MS regard podcasts: there is no podcast support at all built into the new PC Os.

Having to power upwards a PC to download podcasts and then sync them with a Windows Telephone is cumbersome and inconvenient - an extra step where there doesn't need to exist one. The reality of the situation is that MS have made podcast support dip to such a depression that users similar me are forced to consider platform alternatives. Podcast support is incredibly important to my needs.

We would like to hear why podcast support has all but been dropped in Tango. We'd also similar to know what you guys think about this situation. How on earth tin we get Microsoft to take podcast back up more seriously? Should the removal of a feature non be documented in some mode? While we're at it, nosotros'd dear to know your solutions to these problems - exist it 3rd party apps or simply using some other platform.

Nosotros've reached out to Microsoft for clarification on the event. In the meantime, leave a annotate and allow united states of america know what you think.

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