Android Tablet App Review: BeyondPod for Android

One of the main purposes I use my iPod Touch for is podcasts.  Why?  Because they are one form of audio entertainment that can be found free of charge on iTunes.  There are literally millions of podcasts floating around the web.  And it is extremely easy to locate a very professional and high quality podcast to listen to.  So if you are using an iDevice, no problem.  iTunes makes it extremely easy to locate and download/subscribe to these podcasts.  But what if you are using an Android device?

There are a handful of podcatching apps in the Android Market.  But one issue I found with all of them were the incompatibility with iTunes' Podcast Feed addresses.  In numerous cases thr only podcasts I could get these apps to pull down were from regular RSS Feeds.  Save for BeyondPod.  Not only does it's User Interface shine amongst it's competition, but it makes listening to my favorite podcasts a simple task when not around my iPod Touch.

So how do we get the RSS Feeds into BeyondPod?  Really easily, that is.  BeyondPod places an entry into the system menu so when you long tap a link in the web browser the menu pops up.  If it is a RSS Feed URL simply tap the BeyondPod menu iten and it will import the feed into BeyondPod where you can edit some of the feeds settings and save it as a favorite.  After saving the feed, BeyondPod will parse the feed and pull down the list of available media for you.  From here you have the option to either stream or download the epsiodes for any given podcast.

You can also setup the app to automatically download new episodes as they become available.  Personally, I like to download episodes as I want to listen to them.  And respectively, have the podcast deleted once it's been listened too.  And BeyondPod allows for that to be done extremely easy.  I have yet to find any reason I needed to visit their website or Google a support issue for this app.

Let's say you're not a fan of using the web browser to locate podcasts RSS feeds.  You have the option to use the built in browser functions within BeyondPod to discover new podcasts.  When you first install it, you will notice that there is already a small selection of podcasts setup in each category.  From news, sports, entertainment, technology, etc.  I ended up clearing out most of these, and adding my own.  The organization functions found within this app have yet to be rivaled among other podcatching or podcast management apps I tried on my tablet.  Some worked just fine, but it's interface and design felt clunky and didn't seem to flow smoothly.  When launching BeyondPod, it feels like other top notch apps I have found.

I use the Pulse Newsreader, and to me BeyondPod feels a lot like that experience.  It just works, and does so very well.  So if you are looking for a nice, easy to use, podcast manager; I would highly recommend BeyondPod.

There are two versions of the app, one for Android based phones and the other is for Android based tablets. It is a free download, however, the free app is the 'Lite' version containing a 7day free trial.  After that you'll need to purchase the BeyondPod Unlock Key for full usage.  But honestly, this app is that good and is well worth it's weight in gold for $6.99.

App in review: BeyondPod
Rating:


Pros: Awesome user interface.  Great user experience.  Compatibility with iTunes Podcast Feeds.  Been using  steady for a week and have yet to experience a Force Close on my tablet running Honeycomb 3.2.
Cons: The set of podcasts included in the app when it's first installed weren't one's I listen to.  No big deal, deleted them and went on with life.  This is the 7day free trial.  Full app unlock is $6.99.