![]() ![]() ![]() Overcast.fm website contains a basic web player, and Arment has suggested that other web-based features-such as the ability to subscribe to podcasts or add episodes to playlists directly from your desktop web browser-may be in the offing sometime down the road. There’s also always a backup of your Overcast data stored on the server, in case you lose your phone. In fact, the app requires that users create an account because the Overcast server is constantly checking for new episodes and then pinging the app when a new one appears. Given Arment’s background building web services (he helped build Tumblr, and Instapaper was very much an app-and-web-service combo), it’s not surprising that Overcast is supported by several web-based features. Fortunately, Overcast lets you set Speed, Smart Speed, and Voice Boost settings on a per-podcast basis-so you can speed up slow talkers, boost quiet talkers, and even slow down speed talkers. I’ve found that Voice Boost makes some quiet and poorly recorded podcasts I listen to more listenable, but decreases the quality of others. The app’s Voice Boost feature is a single button that alters a podcast’s audio, compressing and equalizing it to bring it to a more consistent volume. Overcast’s sound settings can be edited on a per-podcast basis. In Overcast I still find myself doing playlist maintenance based on my own whims, but in general the episodes I want to listen to are at the top and the other stuff is at the bottom, which is how I like it. This two-tier approach is a pretty close match to how I listen to podcasts: I have a few go-to podcasts that I want to listen to as soon as they arrive, and then there are podcasts I listen to when the top names are all played.īut with all this automation, there’s also flexibility: You can edit playlists to list episodes in any order and add and delete episodes freely. Overcast’s approach to playlists is smart: Not only can you choose specific podcasts to add to a playlist (or the inverse, choosing specific podcasts to ban), but there’s a Priority Podcasts feature that lets you specify which podcasts float to the top of the play order. I listen to a lot of different podcasts and always want another episode to begin playing once the last one concludes-especially when I’m driving and can’t select another episode manually-so for me, playlists are the most important feature of any podcast app. When an episode is playing, that information is displayed (along with a small set of playback controls) at the very bottom of the window. As you might expect, you can tap on a podcast, then tap on an episode to start playing it. (It doesn’t match the visual flair of the prettiest podcast app, Castro, but Castro pays for that flair by being harder to use.) The main screen features a simple list, split in two: playlists at the top and podcasts at the bottom. The Overcast interface is simple, functional, and clearly the result of careful design. Overcast’s Now Playing screen features a live visualizer at the bottom of the podcast art. For a $5 in-app purchase, however, users can unlock numerous additional features, including: support for downloads over cellular, features that modify or improve sound output (more on those below), and unlimited playlists and episodes in playlists (there’s only one playlist, containing 5 episodes, by default). Says in a statement on the Overcast website. “I want to offer a better alternative for the mass market, so it must be free,” Arment Let’s start with the basics: Overcast is free, though feature-limited. (If you use your iPad for podcasts, Overcast isn’t for you yet-it currently runs only on the iPad in iPhone emulation mode, though Arment says a Universal version that also runs natively on the iPad interface is planned.) That makes sense, because different people listen to podcasts in different ways-and all those apps rightly have their fans. Swell), each app takes a somewhat different approach. Podcasts app (not to mention podcast-aggregation apps like UI playground, like Twitter apps were back in the day. These days, there are countless good podcast-playing apps out there-it’s a Overcast’s main screen features a single list with playlists on top, podcasts below. For the last few months I’ve been using a prerelease version, and I’ve come away impressed. Instapaper read-it-later app last year.The app was teasedĭetailed on Arment’s popular podcast, and now it’s out there for everyone to try. Podcast-playing app Overcast, his anticipated major return to the iOS App Store after selling his popular ![]()
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