On Mon, 2010-04-19 at 15:40 -0500, Les Mikesell wrote: > The question is as much about the state of the art in non-itunes > software as the content sources. With itunes, I can subscribe to some > feeds and new items will be automatically downloaded when available and > can be deleted after listening, and they can be included in a playlist > that can be sorted by timestamps. Then when I connect an ipod it can > automatically sync this playlist, including bringing back the 'listened' > status for subsequent deletion on the computer. By naming the playlist > so it is at the top on the ipod I can click the default items a few > times without looking and always get the newest podcast - which has > pretty much replaced all other content listening when I'm driving alone > (my wife isn't thrilled by technical talk...). > > I'm hoping that my next phone will be able to do this at least as > conveniently by itself without the sync-to-computer step but it doesn't > seem likely unless there is computer based software other than itunes > that does it. ---- The concept Apple drives is to have a master iTunes application that handles all of the device intelligence, whether it is software updates, synchronization of software, etc. Clearly this is an Apple-ism and the Android makes no attempt to replicate any of this, preferring to do everything OTA. The pace of Android software development is so high now that it's likely that someone is already writing or has already written something that does what you want or you could even write your own because unlike Apple, you don't actually need to jailbreak the phone or get blessing from Apple to install on your telephone. In reality, what you are asking for seems superfluous... you just keep a bookmark of some podcast url and when you go there, it starts playing the stream, you never have to actually store the podcast (and then have to manage transfer from computer to device, delete old, etc.) and thus the Apple methodology seems to be rather convoluted (and analog) by comparison... but hey, that's just my opinion. Craig -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.