![]() ![]() Web links from show notes available for the episode can be found by tapping on the album artwork, and you can create bookmarks to mark important or must-listen-to points in the podcast. Each control is sized just right and make for easy-to-tap touch targets. The volume slider, AirPlay, playback speed, a sleep timer, and sharing options accompany continuous playback in a mock multitasking tray by sliding up the player like the lock screen camera. Instacast’s new player controls are well done. Having the ability to reverse the play order for newer-sorted playlists has made continuous playback very useful on long trips and traffic congested evenings - being able to tap it on and off has also made a world of difference. ![]() ![]() The right and left arrows signify forward and backward, telling Instacast whether to play the subsequent episode in the current playlist or subscription. With Instacast 2.0, its integration into the updated player controls has made it one of my favorite features. You could flip it on and off, but there wasn’t a lot of choice in how continuous playback behaved. When continuous playback first launched in Instacast 1.3, I wasn’t a big fan of the feature. Sorting options per playlist aren’t available, but continuous playback options should currently solve your want for a certain play order in the pre-created playlists. For example: new Hypercritical episodes can be added to a 5by5 playlist and downloaded automatically in contrast to other podcasts that are not downloaded automatically. For each podcast, you can set up individual settings that override global settings. Smart playlists are fundamentally based on played status and sort order, while playlists are simply named containers that you can manually or automatically add podcasts to. Playlists, in combination with per subscription settings, are powerful tools that showcase the potential Instacast 2.0 has for podcast management down the road. Sorting the download queue is the biggest enhancement to be found. Finding the download manager isn’t obvious, but once found it provides much more functionality than before. This area doubles as a download manager when podcasts are being downloaded, a progress bar will appear that can be tapped on to reveal the download manager itself. This contextual information varies depending on the tab, but for Subscriptions and Playlists, it displays information regarding the number of subscriptions or playlists you’re subscribed to and how much information has been cached (or downloaded) locally to your device. The three icons are physically replaced by contextual information along the bottom of the display. Overall, I think the new navigation scheme is better than before. It’s easier to navigate Instacast 2.0 as text labels provide ample direction for discovering the podcatcher’s new features. The newly added tab bar conveniently relocates previous filters like Favorites and Downloaded episodes to new smart playlists that are accessible through the Playlists tab. ![]() Additional sharing features strive to strengthen online discussion around podcasts thanks to commenting and an HTML5 audio player. Upgraded player controls, playlists, and bookmarks add a new pro-layer of control without dampening the player’s aesthetic or user experience. While some of the changes take some getting used to, others have been improved upon so well that I could not think of going back to an older Instacast. There are lots of little changes that have been made and thus lots of little habits that had to be relearned. With the features already explained in great detail, I don’t feel the need to recap everything Instacast 2.0 has to offer or explain how it works, but I do want to share some of my experiences with the app post-upgrade. The mini-manual will be a handy reference for getting adjusted to Instacast’s tap-and-hold friendly UI and advanced features. Instead of having to decipher release notes and a summary of bullet point features, Martin Hering of Vemedio has already published an in-depth write-up of everything “version two” has to offer, which includes a couple pro-tips here and there for those who aren’t skimming paragraphs and looking for bolded words. It’s not hard to talk about the latest and greatest features of Instacast 2.0 when the developer has dutifully written his own epic walkthrough of his app’s new features. ![]()
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