Over-the-air podcast downloads in 2.2 update?

Nov 6, 2008 Author: Veronica | Filed under: uncategorized

According to Macrumors, Apple will finally be implementing podcast downloads over the cellular network on the iPhone, video and audio. There has been no shortage of interest in a feature like this since the phone launched, and we all assumed they were working on it when they started rejecting podcast downloaders from the App Store.

All app-bullying aside, this is something I’ve been waiting for from Apple for a long time. However, the reported 10MB cap for 3G downloads is very small. The most recent episode of This American Life, for example, comes in at 27MB at 64 kbps (which is on the lower end of the quality spectrum), with the show clocking in at 58 minutes. Sword and Laser, which I publish at 96 kbps, is 24MB at only 35 minutes. So, I’m having a tough time imagining how a 10 MB cap will work for me in almost any scenario. Wi-fi will certainly help with the cap issue, but chances are that I won’t be near an open wi-fi connection when I realize I need to download something.

Over-the-air is a nice feature to have in theory, but the bandwidth cap makes it virtually useless. Since they haven’t officially announced any of the details yet, this is all speculation. However, since the iPhone won’t let you download any application over 10MB over 3G either, that cap size seems likely.

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20 Responses for "Over-the-air podcast downloads in 2.2 update?"

Starman November 6th, 2008 at 10:59 am 1

To date, there has only been one time I wanted to listen to a podcast over the air with my iPhone. With a 20+ minute commute home, forgetting a podcast isn’t that drastic to me, but I can see long commutes being a problem.
slonkak November 6th, 2008 at 11:01 am 2

AT&T definitely didn’t do their homework before allowing a device such as the iPhone on their 3G network. The 10MB cap is horrible. Any cap is horrible. The over-the-air podcast download feature will be 100% useless for me, as there are no podcasts I watch that are under 10MB. Add in the fact that the 2.1 firmware made ALL “push” features on my phone stop working and they might as well not even publish this feature.
Todd November 6th, 2008 at 11:02 am 3

Kinda of evil of Apple to be like that, kill off Podcaster, then put theirs up. But I suspect it’s AT&T being evil, trying to get people to go over their cap and pay a bunch of fees.

All the more reason to switch to an Android powered phone.
Kato November 6th, 2008 at 11:04 am 4

I think this is a nice feature to add, particularly if they implement the ability to autodownload (just like in iTunes) though I somehow suspect they won’t (since that would be too convenient).

I have run into instances where I’ve wanted to download a podcast for the evening commute home or what not, especially if I’m caught up on a daily podcast like BOL. But, as you mention, if there is a cap on download then I don’t see how it will be very useful (since, unless I’m at home, I’m always on Edge).
Jason W. November 6th, 2008 at 11:05 am 5

Well, there’s also a (confirmed?) rumor at Gizmodo that says that they’ll allow 3G tethering to the iPhone. So you may be able to get around the 10MB limit by using your computer that’s getting its internet connection from the iPhone.

http://gizmodo.com/5078562/confirmed-3g-tethering-coming-to-iphone
Veetrag November 6th, 2008 at 11:06 am 6

Great news! I have been waiting for this feature for long.

Can you tell what was the logic behind not putting it before?
OHDOCTAH November 6th, 2008 at 11:12 am 7

I really don’t like Apple they won’t fix the basic needs of the Iphone/smart phone like copy paste and MMS. Everything else they do is still tarnished by not doing the basics every other phone can. iwanttosmackstevejobsintheface.com
A. Salim November 6th, 2008 at 11:12 am 8

I’m looking forward to this. The 10MB limit sucks, but I think it makes sense since they have the same limit on downloads over 3G in the iTunes store.

Now, I want copy/paste.
Jeff November 6th, 2008 at 11:19 am 9

I agree totally this is crap (if true). I can stream Pandora for 8 hours and I’m pretty sure I use more than 10mb per session with it when I do. So what could possibly be the difference between that and what I do with Pandora. Are podcasters gonna have to break their shows up into chunks so that people like me who don’t have a hot spot around me at work can download? I doubt it very much. This is dumb very dumb.
Charlie Styr November 6th, 2008 at 11:22 am 10

The caps are annoying, particularly when you can simply click on MP4 videos, such as those on Revision3’s site, and watch whole podcasts uninteruppted which are well over 10mb.

Maybe if they do allow a higher cap, then this would be fantastic. Perfect for when you are away from home: in fact that would be really quite incredible. Now, why not songs?!
Alex November 6th, 2008 at 11:47 am 11

Who needs Podcaster. An alternative that works for me is to use iPhone’s Safari. (1) Open the RSS feed thru the browser (bookmark it) (2) select desired episode and your done! No downloading or deleting file later, just streaming.
Mike Lerch November 6th, 2008 at 12:02 pm 12

I don’t have an iPhone and have a question: can you do over-the-air iTunes purchases yet? I’m thinking that downloading a single track or a couple would be under 10MB, but whole albums would definitely be a lot more.

Definitely: 10MB cap on podcast downloads is just silly.
James November 6th, 2008 at 12:10 pm 13

I don’t buy the 10MB download cap. A good portion of tracks on the iTunes Music Store are over that limit, and they can still be downloaded over a cellular network.

In any case, what would stop Apple from transparently chunking podcast episodes into 10MB packages and then sticking them back together after download?

I’m assuming that (given the cap is in place) they already do something like this for YouTube videos, otherwise the cap would make the YouTube app useless.

James
jamesus November 6th, 2008 at 12:51 pm 14

There *might* be a way to get around this…

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=2128

I haven’t tried this yet using ITM on the iPhone, but in concept this should allow us to download podcasts over 10 MB.
J Foderaro November 6th, 2008 at 1:33 pm 15

Since you can now get free WiFi from AT&T at so many places it shouldn’t be hard to find a spot to download the big podcasts.
Russ Turley November 6th, 2008 at 2:47 pm 16

I guess it will be nice to subscribe to podcasts on my iPhone, but I already download larger files than 10MB on the iPhone. I listened to the latest TWiT podcast on my iPhone this week by clicking on the download link from the web site.

The 10MB limit sounds a bit like the ROCKR phone 100 song limit. Not a space limitation, just a hard coded 100 song limit for no good reason.

Even though Apple pulls this crap from time to time, it’s still the best phone I’ve ever had. Excuse me while I bend over. “Thank you sir may I have another!”
Bobby November 6th, 2008 at 4:37 pm 17

This is a non issue really. any self respeting geek has their iphone jailbroken and a nice copy of podcaster. That att free wifi at starbucks and other locales will sure come in handy…
Haig November 6th, 2008 at 10:57 pm 18

10 mb! 10 measly mb! Come on how many podcasts are even in that category? It’s a worthless feature if you ask me unless they widen the cap. Until they do, I’ll continue to get my German music fix via Radio Goethe from my beautiful new MacBook pro (and no the screen does NOT suck!)
mark November 10th, 2008 at 9:36 pm 19

what about wifi, would there be limits over wifi?
Clay McIlrath November 12th, 2008 at 10:12 am 20

I agree the cap makes it kind of pointless.. there aren’t very many podcasts that i bother with that are less than a half hour or hour and both are easily reaching that cap..

Does ATT offer a plan that doesn’t have a cap.. it was my understanding that you get it all unlimited with a standard iPhone data plan.. might be some fine print that i didn’t read.