Today I'm here to tell you that Podkicker sucks.
But, I also hope it will get better. I use Podkicker daily. It is easily one of my top-ten apps, and I've been using it since way way back in the first few weeks it came out. As soon as a pro version came out, I bought in.
Unfortunately, this app that I use very often and enjoy a lot doesn't always live up to my expectations. Today I'm going to explain why.
I don't know much about the Podkicker developer. I do know that this forum and the app reviews are full of misguided users (idiots) who blame Android bugs and design problems on the app because they don't know any better. I also write code and put out products that the public deals with myself, so I'm sympathetic that it is difficult to discern the valid complaints of a user who is having a genuine problem which can be fixed, versus the dribble that more often than not has the editorial glamor of a Youtube comment combined with the intelectual value that only a 4chan noobfag could muster. I also know how little profit apps like this can generate, and how little I paid for the product that I enjoy, versus the amount of time a project like this can take up.
When I first started looking for a podcast app on Android, I looked at Doggcatcher. Unfortuantely, it's user interface was a clusterfuck of confusing bolted-on functionality and Rube Goldberg-like configuration options. It just didn't do what I wanted and made things hard to do, instead of easy to do. Nothing about the user interface layout made intuitive sense. Fortunately, Podkicker soon came out and it basically did what I wanted without the noise. Doggcatcher should be viewed as a warning, not as an example.
I would also like to note that I don't have any complaint regarding the dev's choice to re-design the layout of the application, mix things up, and make fundamental changes. Users will complain when their cheese gets moved, but most of the changes that I've seen may cause individual problems but have over-all lead to a better app when viewed as a whole. Progress needs to get made and some eggs are going to get broken. I am not one of these NIMBY fools who are bitching because of trivial UI changes.
Now then, on with the complaints.
The developer doesn't listen, or isn't committed, or otherwise is over his head. This is the root of all other issues. It's obvious to me that the dev here is over his head in this project and he doesn't know code and Android as well as is needed. I say this understanding the limits of myself and what I suck at, so while heading straight into a personal attack probably ain't going to get me any friends, this is where I feel the truth lies. At the root of all the other issues below, the dev here just ain't cuttin' it. Bugs are rampant, well-known issues are not getting fixed, and new ones get introduced each time a major release happens.
Communication to users isn't good. Well-thought out comments and bug-reports from users go ignored here on the message board. For a long time, there was no changelog. I see that an email address has been added to the app, but I can say that in the past that wasn't true. There is no "HELP" or "SUPPORT" option in the app's menu (though there is some useful stuff buried under Settings/About, which a $5/hour tween business consultant could tell you is NOT where it belongs.)
After the most recent major update, threading has problems. While refreshing the list of podcasts, everything else is dirt-slow. Adding a podcast to the Playlist from the Downloads list will take 5-10 seconds. Opening menus takes multiple seconds before anything happens. Everything slows down. This is on a 4-core new phone.
If new multiple episodes are found on a podcast feed update, Podkicker is hard-coded to only download a limited number of the podcasts. I run into this limitation regularly on multiple Bloomberg news feeds. The first five or seven (or whatever the number is) get automatically downloaded and the rest get ignored. I am sure this was a good idea as a limitation on a bad feed causing a massive runaway download, but it is actually causing problems, I've reported the issue before, and it's still a problem.
0.00B/0-length podcasts are a constant problem. A new episode comes out, Podkicker automatically or manually downloads it, and then it says the size is "0.00B" and when I go to play the podcast it gets streamed instead of played from the local cache. Inspecting the app cache manually via bash shell/ssh shows the the downloaded file is actually there on the filesystem, but something is preventing Podkicker from using it. These episodes can't be listened to when I am on the road or underground and don't have network access. Multiple people have reported the issue here on the forum. Nothing has been fixed.
Display inconsistancy issues: Podcast name not shown on Downloads list, other differences between Podcasts, Episodes, Downloads, and Playlist tabs. If a podcast doesn't have an icon and is added to either the Downloads or Playlist tabs, there is absolutely no way to figure out what podcast feed it comes from.
Poor menu options on Podcasts tab/list: no delete, no ability to view or edit the feed URL manually. When viewing an individual podcast feed, there is no ability to refresh or do ANYTHING at all, because there is no menu.
No ability to kill the app from within the app (no quit option on the menu.) Why would I want this? Because bugs in the app (notably the 0-size download issue) sometimes get fixed when I kill the app and restart it.
How's about all those people trying to get their feed listed in your search feature (which is a very awesome feature BTW): http://www.podkicker.com/forum/topic/13 … ch-engine/
NO REPLY. LINE NOISE. NOBODY HOME. Dev ignores them. I don't know who's fault it is (there are a lot of misformatted feeds out there), but I do know that they didn't get any public replies.
That's it for now. When I get constipated again, I'll come back to bitch some more. Assuming this post doesn't get deleted. Will any good come of this? I doubt it. Most people see criticism as an attack rather than as an opportunity.