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ACast, a podcast player for Android
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Steve Hereford said
How do I add radio stations. I have been playing with this for two days and everything I try I get the same message: filtering
Any suggestions. Podcasts work great!
acast said
Currently the shoutcast search functionality is broken since the web page has changed. ACast radio part is very experimental since streaming is not natively supported (google is working on this).
I’ve fixed the search functionality and it will be available in the next release (1.0.17).
You can add channels manually by entering a m3u, pls URL in the text field and then pressing +, Add item.
j1m said
I tried exporting the my subscriptions from iTunes as OPML and placing them in acast/acast.opml, but when I clicked Import OPML, it said “protocol not found:”. Does importing the OPMLs from iTunes work?
acast said
Could you send me your OPML file?
ma_an@ter.nu
Importing OPML doesn't work said
Hi
I’m usgin ver 1.0.29.
I export from GoogleReader my feeds to OPML format (XML). Renamed that xml to acast OPML and put in respective folder. When I import that file, with “Import LOCAL OPML”. After selecting “import all items directly” option, a list of folders created in GoogleReader appear on screen. All appear to be fine. Then I click on any of that list entries. Then appear “Do you want to add ….?”. When I “accept” then “could not add null null” mesage appears and that’s all. What’s the problem?
Thx.
DarrenShan said
I cannot see anywhere a comparison between the free and paid versions?
I would have thought this would be an FAQ??
acast said
The difference between ACast 1 and 2 is that ACast 1 has ads.
Thanks,
Jose said
I have installer the free version and some feeds do not update as they should. That occurs for example with the feed http://radioclube.clix.pt/rss/money_box.xml
I see in itunes that there are new episodes but acast does not show them.
If I remove the feed and add it again the new episodes are shown.
That is really bothering me and I am almost giving up using it.
Can you give me some help with this?
Regards.
acast said
I was able to add the feed, download and listen to it, and the items correspond to the feed data.
It sounds like a caching issue so I’ve added it to my phone and will follow up on it when it is updated (I’ve marked it to notify on new item).
Thanks,
acast said
It was a bug and it is fixed in the latest release.
Thanks,
Meg said
I just put Acast on my Motorola Droid. It find the feeds I need to listen to, but they are password protected, and when I go to open them I get a “cannot play video” or “download failed: null” for either video or audio file of the same lecture podcast. Do you have an option for password protected podcasts?
acast said
You have to download password protected files, streaming is not possible since the player can not handle the authentication.
A lot of video files can not be played, even when downloaded, with Android so first try downloading audio/mp3 files when testing this functionality.
It should be possible to download protected file links, I will try and find a similar protected feed.
Thanks,
Régine said
Hello,
I have a HTC Dream.
To add a podcast, I copy the URL given for the podcast. and when I go back in the field text in section + Add, I can’t paste the URL.
the shortcut is menu + V on HTC Dream to paste something.
this works for any other thing I do on my HTC Dream.
But going from my web browser to Acast, it is as if I lose what I copied.
Can you help me please?
Thank you.
acast said
I usually long press the text field and select paste. I’ve not tried the key combination to paste but I believe it should work with the scroll/ball button and v.
Let me know if this still does not work.
Thanks,
Régine said
Hello, great thanks!
it works really fine.
that’s kind of you to have answered.
Very good app.
cheers
Bryan W. F. said
I was wondering if there is a way to display the date the podcast was published instead of how many days ago it was published as it does now. I find it more difficult for me to visually spot what I’m looking for when it’s “2 days ago” or something like that. I would like to change it back.
acast said
I’ll add it to the todo list. It be great if you could add it to the acast uservoice page so other people can vote for it.
The date is displayed when viewing the information of a feed but not in the feed list.
Thanks,
matt said
Today all of my feeds disappeared. No idea what happened. I restarted my phone and still nothing. Any help?
acast said
I’ve never heard about anything similar before. Are you using any specific type of feed, like Google Reader feed or directory feed, or are you only using regular feeds, i.e. separate subscriptions?
What type of device are you using?
The feeds are stored in a private database in the phone memory so the state of the SD card should not matter.
Do all other apps work as expected? Like SMS app still has data?
It’s not only the feed items that disappeared but the actual feeds? And no feed at all is visible/exists?
You haven’t done a re-install?
What version of ACast are you using?
Otto said
How can I sort a Gerd from oldest to newest in order to play a sequence of feeds in the right order by use of the next button in the player?
acast said
The next release will have a menu option to open the current feed in filter view where sorting and filters can be set as required. This may be one extra step but I believe it is worth it because of the flexibility of the filter view.
Mike said
Hi,
Do you have somewhere where users can submit bugs? When Acast works it’s a great application but there’s one *really* annoying bug where the player resumes about 3 seconds after it’s been closed and the only way I can stop it from doing this is by restarting my phone (T-Mobile pulse).
Thanks,
Mike
acast said
I just released a new version with some changes regarding the player. Can you upgrade and let me know if that fixed the issue?
Mike said
Yep seems to be fixed now. I noticed it was only doing it before when my headphones were plugged in which is weird. Anyway works now, thanks!
Dori said
Hi, the 3/29 update had the new feature we talked about classifying feeds into categories. It appears to have disappeared with the latest update. It was great; can you check what happened?
Thanks.
acast said
It’s just not the default feed view now. You can open the category view with the left navigation/view button or check the setting ‘Other -> Enable categories’ to have it open up when pressing the Feeds menu button in the menu view.
Thanks
Eric Taylor said
What is the deal with the scroll bar? I keep getting a notice message about the scroll bar not being operational and needing to download some file but the notice goes away so fast I can’t figure out what the issue is. I’m guessing this is related to the fact that now when I pause a podcast it reverts back to the beginning of the podcast rather than playing from the point of the pause.
acast said
Seeking in streamed content broke in Android 1.6. This is fixed in the coming versions of Android (>2.1) but I don’t know when this will be included in an Android update for existing devices.
I’ll probably create an ACast specific streaming handler soon.
Issue info:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4124
hansjd said
i have a small problem with acast.
i can add this link, and it works.
http://www.kringvarp.fo/podcast/podcast.asp
but i only get the 12:20 version (look below)
but when i try any of these links
http://www.kringvarp.fo/podcast/podcast.asp?inc=tidindi1220
http://www.kringvarp.fo/podcast/podcast.asp?inc=tidindi1400
http://www.kringvarp.fo/podcast/podcast.asp?inc=tidindi1800
i get this error message
“could not add feed. error: at line 635, column 8: undefined entity.”
acast said
Seems like firefox and internet explorer can’t parse the feed correctly either:
http://www.kringvarp.fo/podcast/podcast.asp?inc=tidindi1400
Reference to undefined entity ‘iacute’.
Line: 635 Character: 96
So I’m afraid I can’t fix this.
Thanks,
hansjd said
actually, there should be a very simple fix for this…
each time you hit a &entity: you just ignore that item
that’s what juice does
btw í: is the letter à and ð: is the letter ð
http://www.thesauruslex.com/typo/eng/enghtml.htm
but it would a much bigger project to translate all foreign characters
acast said
Cool, I’ll put it on the todo list.
Thanks,
kutzi said
I was wondering where can I post issues for Acast?
acast said
The best place is acast.uservoice.com but you can also post issues here or send me an email at ma_an@ter.nu.
de_MarK said
There is probably a problem with national character encoding, ie. Polish chars in feeds are displayed incorrect.
And question: is it possible to assign a particular sort order to feed?
acast said
Yes, there’s some work to sort out the character encodings, it’s on the todo list.
The current way to sort a feed is to filter it and then sort it (i.e. from feed item view, menu->Filter/Sort, and then use the sort in the filter view). I’ll add a sort in the Feed Item View to simplify this (don’t know if it will be in the next release or not).
Ralph said
Does Acast support “offline” listening? Seems even the download podcast still require a conection to the internet in order to play the file.
acast said
If the files are downloaded, status icon shows green arrow pointing down, they will play in “offline” mode. I tested this in the latest (ad supported) version of acast with airplane mode on.
Ralph said
Thanks for the information, I do have the files downloaded but in “air plane” mode they failed to play. I reloaded the app to see if I had a bad installation, after reloading I was able to play the files in “air plane” mode.
Again thanks, Ralph
Terrence John said
I can no longer find ACast in the Market!
I’m running Android 1.5
acast said
I’ve got this report from a few users. I think know what the problem is and will push a release shortly.
acast said
Can you check if you see ACast in the market now?
Terrence John said
Hey partner, NO it isn’t back yet… tried multiple times
acast said
I was able to reproduce the problem with a Android 1.6 device and have pushed a fix. It should be visible in the market now. Thank you
Terrence John said
Yeah man! I see it! Cool! Thanks!
Tony said
I recently received a replacement HTC Droid since I lost mine in King Salmon, Alaska. I redownloaded Acast. It works but now I notice that if I receive a phone call, when the call finishes, the program I was listening to starts over at the beginning. I have to try to figure out how to forward (FF) back to where I was. Is there a bug or something I did not set right? It would be optimal (for me) if it would pause when a call was received and then start again at the point where it paused once the call is finished.
(on an unrelated note, I may be interested in upgrading to the paid version but how do I do that?).
acast said
I assume you are streaming content, i.e. not downloading episodes before you listen to them? For downloaded content this should work as you described (pause on incoming call and resume when hanging up from last position). The seek to position, for streaming content, is broken in Android 1.6-2.1 so the stored position can not be used when resuming. This is fixed in Android 2.2.
The only way to upgrade today is to buy the ACast Unlock Key from the Android Market. The Unlock key is only available in countries where Google allows paid apps.
Tony said
I assume the USA is such a country 😉
How do I purchase the paid version? I am running
Acast now on my droid, and looked at menu but there
was no link. I can purchase it if it is not too expensive,
it will eliminate ads, and pause when I am streaming. Do I look for Acast Unlock Key?
Tony said
I have found it
acast said
Good, you can search the Market for ‘acast unlock key’ or use the ‘Upgrade’ menu option from acast main view menu.
The key will eliminate ads but it will not fix the streaming issue since this is Android OS specific. I don’t know when Android 2.2 will be pushed to droid but it should be fairly soon.
Thank you
Tony said
Maybe there is a way to tell the droid to forward all calls to voice mail before you run a program, and to unforward when you are finished?
acast said
It’s possible to do this manually with the Android Call Forward – Always Forward setting but I would not recommend it. The easiest way is to automatically download episodes until Android 2.2 is pushed to your device and let ACast pause and resume on incoming call.
Tony said
Well there’s a “download all” under More in the menu but there are too many in my play list to download all. I can’t find a way to download specific ones. Can’t really mark them because touching an item on the playlist brings up a menu but the menu has no “download” on it. Just play, remove, move to top, move to bottom, Information, remove, mark read, mark unread. So does long-pressing.
acast said
Right, I’ll add a download menu option to the playlist popup menu in the next release. You can configure acast to periodically update your feeds and to download new episodes.
Settings -> Update -> Schedule feed update -> 4 hour.
Settings -> Download -> Auto download last -> 1.
Tony said
Hey the unlock key didn’t work. I am still getting ads. I am downloading the old time radio stuff. I know they have the ads
from the 40s and stuff, but I am still getting the current ones (for PetCo, eHarmony, etc). It adds 2 or 3 minutes to the listening time, and if I realize I heard one of the shows already I stop it and play a new one and have to sit through the same commercials I just heard.
Are you sure this unlock key works right?
acast said
The ACast Unlock Key will only remove ads that are displayed at the bottom of ACast, not ads in the podcast episodes. I recommend using the headset fast forward and rewind buttons to skip the commercials, I have the fast forward configured for a 30 sec jump forward and the rewind to a 10 sec, this way it is fairly easy to skip a commercial.
Also the seek bar/buttons does not work properly in Android 1.6 to Android 2.1 when streaming content so it might be worth downloading the episodes before listening to them to get the seek/jump to position functionality.
ACast (kill acast or restart phone) has to be restarted for the ads not to be displayed.
ACast Settings – Player:
Forward time: 30 (sec)
Rewind time: 10 (sec)
Swap FF/REW and Prev/Next: checked
Danny said
Is it possible to set acast up so all feeds update, but I specify which feeds will auto download. I have a particular podcast that I enjoy listening too, but just not every episode, there will often be 5 or 6 that go by that I don’t want to listen to. So I would like acast to update so I can see the episodes, but then not auto download. But, I still want to autodownload other podcasts where I do listen to every episode. I know other podcatchers can do this. Is it possible with acast?
acast said
Yes, that feature was added in the 3.1.24 release. If you long press a feed in the ‘Feeds’ view a popup/context menu will appear, select ‘Toggle download’ to disable auto download for that feed. The feed will be presented with a different background color. I will try and make this a bit more user friendly in an upcoming release. Thanks!
The Paper Boy said
Typo in Settings dialogue –
Settings -> Other -> Default Action
Subtext says “Default Actin”
Acast Pro v3.1.28
acast said
Fixed. Thanks!
Nick C said
Can you revisit the “pause and resume” issue? There was an update pushed to Droid Incredibles that fixed the turn by turn directions interupting the music, then not resuming the music. It worked in 2.1, then was broken in 2.2, then fixed with the recent maintenance update. The pause and resume in Acast worked on 2.1 was broken in 2.2 and I was hoping the maintenance update would fix it, but no such luck yet.
One other thing, can you add a “move up” and “move down” option to the playlist sorting? I would even be OK with trading “move to top” and “move to bottom” for “move up” and “move down” if there’s not room for them all in the menu.
acast said
Workaround in 3.2.2.
russ said
Using Evo, playback starts at the beginning after using the pause button. Will this be fixed?
acast said
3.2.2 has a workaround for this. Thanks,
Tony said
I have two questions.
1. This just started happening recently. Used to be I could go to the playlist (player)
and look around and move things, etc. I still can but now whenever I go to the
player whatever is on the playlist next starts playing automatically. I often
don’t want to hear something right away, and it used to not start playing until
I pressed play or at least selected it. How do I make it not start unless I
actually tell it to?
2. My play list got down to empty today. I did this deliberately because I wanted
to check something. But when I mount the drive on my phone to my PC and go
into the Acast subdirectory there were about 3G of old MP3 files still around
(under the various feeds). I removed all these but why were they still there
months after I was finished listening to them? When I select REMOVE shouldn’t
they get deleted?
Philip said
I have been having trouble for a while with the skip forwards and backwards in the app.
When I am listening to a podcast with an add in it, when I try to skip the add I press the skip forward 30sec button to skip the add. sometimes when I do so the playback either takes a while to resume (>10sec) or it does not resume at all. To solve this I have to kill acast and start it again. Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?
Cheers
Phil
Jaan said
Is it possible to make listened items to disappear from playlist automatically?
Is it possible to configure playlist memory button for “current” playlist? Now every time you browse your playlists, you will loose your current playlist.
Regards and thanks for the great app.
Jaan
AA said
i have a motorola cliq droid phone and will need to reset to factory defaults due to issues. Will I lose all of my downloaded podcasts when I resintall the Acast app? I do have an SD card.
Angela said
There are podcasts I want to listen to, but the creators only provide links to the iTunes store and they dont have an RSS feed. How can I get these podcasts? I tried feed flipper (http://picklemonkey.net/flipper/convert.php) but I just get an error. Thanks!