• About Geek Beat
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Login
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Geek Beat

One of the world’s most recognizable technology news brands, delivering daily tech news, tips, and reviews.

  • News
    • Apple
    • CES
    • Editor’s Choice
    • Google
    • How To’s
    • Microsoft
    • Music
    • Mobility
    • NABShow
    • Photography
  • Episodes
  • Reviews
  • Videos
  • Connect With Us
Home > News > Subscribe to podcasts on your iPad without iTunes!
Instacast HD

Subscribe to podcasts on your iPad without iTunes!

January 10, 2012 by Rick Yaeger

Instacast HD

Check out GeekBeat.TV on your iPad without syncing with iTunes

Is it bad form to admit you don’t subscribe to podcasts anymore on the blog of one of the top podcasts on the Internet? If it is, I apologize. I’m not saying that I don’t watch Internet hosted videos or web series—I do! I even do work with some. I just don’t subscribe.

It’s weird since, going back in podcasting’s short history, the “subscribing” is what made it work. But, ironically, as technology like the iPhone, iPad and AppleTV made watching video more accessible to me, it actually made subscribing less convenient.

Instacast HD hopes to get me subscribing again… at least on my iPad. The US$4.99 app helps me find the podcasts I had previously just been keeping tenuous tabs on and allows me to subscribe, download or stream the content. I’m no longer tethered to iTunes!

Subscriptions on “tap”

The in-app search and top podcasts list makes finding your favorite podcasts simple and makes discovering new ones a snap as well. Subscribing is as simple as a tap. Once you’ve done that, you can easily manage the downloads by priority or even pause them if you’re paranoid about running up the usage on your data plan (if there’s a name for that phobia, let me know, I’ll add it to my Twitter bio).

Instacast HD is the big brother to Instacast for iPhone (a separate purchase at US$1.99 — Grrr!) and owning the two offers a feature that might temp me to buy them both. Just like my Kindle synchronizes where I left off in a book whether I pick it up again on my iPad or my MacBook, Instacast HD allows you to synchronize the play head position on a podcast. So, if you start listening to one on your iPhone during the morning commute, you can finish it on your lunch break on your iPad. It knows right where you left off!

I ♥ Podcatching

The interface on the iPad is extremely handy with show notes and archives at your flicking fingertips. Video will continue to play in the background as your read up, click links, enjoy the in-app browser—all while listening to the audio.

In the few hours that I’ve been playing with Instacast HD, it has made me fall in love with podcatching again.

I’ve just activated the push notifications and it’s telling me I have a few hours of listening and viewing enjoyment ahead of me tonight. I think I’ll set a few of these episodes to auto-cache so that I can watch them offline at my local Starbucks (data plan depletion phobia…I gotz it).

Gonna try to score one of the comfy leather chairs—wish me luck!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Apple, apps, iTunes, Mobility, podcast, Reviews, social media, Starbucks

About Rick Yaeger

For over a decade, Rick Yaeger has been the man behind the Mac-focused MacMerc.com. Lately, he has become better known as the host of One Question Interviews, a podcast where he chats with celebrities and asks them a single, random, board game style question. Follow him on Twitter and check out Rick's Google Profile.

Comments

  1. Mike Nash says

    January 11, 2012 at 10:29 am

    Another great App that catches Podcasts outside of iTunes is Downcast – they have both an iPad and iPhone app.

Recent Posts

  • Best CBD Oil Brands to Buy
  • Go Mic Mobile Wireless System for Mobile Filmmakers
  • A RAY OF LIGHT
  • Keep Devices Charged Anywhere in the World with the Twist Plus World Charging Station
  • Final Leaked iPhone 7 Details Before The Big Event

Recent Comments

  • Ricardo Garza on Streambox Announces 360 Live Video Streaming to YouTube
  • Sunbya on Review: Blue Lola Headphones bring unparalleled quality
  • Jay Anderson on CES2016 – Autel Robotics X-Star Quadcopters
  • Scott Ellis on CES2016 – The Parrot DISCO – The Worlds First Fixed Wing Consumer Drone
  • Ricardo Garza on CES2016 – The Parrot DISCO – The Worlds First Fixed Wing Consumer Drone

Tags

3D Amazon Apple apps audio bluetooth business CE Line Shows 2013 CES computers fitness gadgets games gaming geek geek beat GeekBeat geek house Google health how-to ios john p. kickstarter Microsoft mobile Mobility Music nabshow new building Other photography Reviews robots Samsung social media speakers storage tech technology travel Tutorial vehicles video vlog

Copyright © 2023 · Geek Media on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in