trevelyan on February 28, 2012 | reply

Have you tried downloading into iTunes using your personal feed and then syncing the files to your iPad?

ckristiansen on February 29, 2012 | reply

I was hoping that option could be avoided. As it turns out, iPad iTunes cannot download feeds. Need to use another podcast downloader.

trevelyan on February 29, 2012 | reply

I've got it working with an iPad app called FeedHopper, but the experience isn't ideal: it isn't obvious how to add a lesson feed and the embedded files attached to the lesson are listed as separate items rather than additions to the main lesson. There is no obvious sign that mp3 players are attached to the lessons -- you just have to know - and when you play them there is no support for embedded id3 tags, so you can't see the transcript while listening to the show as with the regular iTunes player.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/feedhopper-rss-reader/id361881998?mt=8

I'd be curious if someone knows a better app for this, comparable to DoubleTwist on Android.

Still, it's possible to manually provide the RSS feed and have it manage the download. The other big limitation is having no way to automatically download all of the related media for a particular feed, so it feels less useful as an organizational tool than just logging into the site with Safari.

Brendan on March 1, 2012 | reply

I've been using an iOS podcast app called Instacast. Don't know if it supports embedded ID3 tags -- I'll check this afternoon -- but on the whole it's far better for podcast management and downloading than the native Apple app is.

murrayjames on March 1, 2012 | reply

Hi @David,

Have you used DoubleTwist in China? Does it download feeds here without a VPN? The program doesn't appear in the Android Market for me in Chengdu.

trevelyan on March 1, 2012 | reply

We don't have an Android device - it was recommended to us by a user though, although I don't know if they're in China. The website is apparently http://doubletwist.com.

ckristiansen on March 2, 2012 | reply

i just wat to applaud the excellent support here people. say, seeing as I'm one of those percieved economic rejects who does not possess a credit card as well as not being able to purchase apps in China because I've no domestic ID, you wouldn't happen to know where I can get this software for free?

murrayjames on March 2, 2012 | reply

@ckristiansen,

Are you staying in China? So long as the iTunes App store is set to China PRC, you can buy credits with a bank card. Ask any of your Chinese friends--they'll know how to use Union Pay--and then pay them back cash.

If you really need an app for free, I'd bet there are other RSS readers for iPhone available.

ckristiansen on March 3, 2012 | reply

I managed to get a free copy of insta cast from the Ego computer market seeing as I'm their returning customer. It's actually the iPhone version but works just as well, so they say. I can now indulge..