Now Apple Podcasts is available as standard on every Mac. Apple released this podcast app when it split up iTuneswhere podcasts used to be availablewith the release of macOS Catalina. In fact, opening the app is required to read podcast reviews or access Apple’s trending charts.On the other, it's long overdue.The iTunes we know and hated just got too big and bulky.The "sort of," phrase takes you to the Music app, which is primarily about trying to sell you $9.99 subscriptions to the Apple Music service. But the old standby of buying songs for $1.29 a pop still continues, via links in the app to the old iTunes Music Store, which still exists."Rest assured everything you had in your iTunes library is still accessible in each app," Apple says, but podcasts go to the podcast app and movies and TV to the TV app.TV is the name of the app that you use to watch movies and TV shows. It's designed to plug Apple's $4.99 monthly TV+ service, which launches Nov. Along the way, you can rent movies to watch from the app, like we used to do in iTunes and watch the new shows from Apple for TV+ (or rent or buy episodes of current and recent network and cable TV fare).Podcasts looks identical to the app we have on iPhones and iPads to discover and play back podcasts. After Apple decided to split up iTunes into three separate, standalone apps for Music, Podcasts, and TV, the Podcasts app is the way to get your spoken word entertainment on macOS Catalina and beyond.
No problem, just leave it on for Music. Apple re-introduced the sidebar navigation to iTunes with the goal of simplifying the experience and included an option to disable it, but turning it off doesn’t revert to tab bar navigation like it does in the Photos app.Turn off the sidebar in the Recently Added section of Music and now you can’t navigate to the Artists section in Music without turning it back on. Aside from removing part of the bloat from iTunes, promoting podcast playback on the Mac to its own app would solve several existing problems.First, there are issues introduced with the recent iTunes 12.4 update. ITunes in its current form can be a mess as a music player, but at least that tries to be its primary function being a good podcast player is hardly the focus of iTunes. Yesterday in my WWDC wish list I included a request for pulling Apple’s podcast player out of iTunes and promoting it to a dedicated app on the Mac just like it is on iOS. It's been broken into three stand-alone apps: Music, Podcasts and TV. Dataram ramdisk license keygenI really like the Crossfade Songs option on iTunes for continuous Apple Music playback. A separate Podcasts app wouldn’t have this awkward and nonsensical behavior.Another problem with having podcast playback happen in a music player is sharing the same playback settings. Another oddity created by iTunes the music player is that smart playlists like 90’s Music appear in the Podcasts section as podcast playlists but show music. But turn it off for Podcasts and it turns off for Music which traps you.For me, the solution is to mostly live in the Unplayed section which is a separate tab bar option and doesn’t show the sidebar. I use Recent Updates and Podcasts but not Stations (which can be removed) but a whole column for two or three options is overkill. Podcast App Full Of TheseUp Next is music-only on iTunes, and chapters just aren’t supported.Podcasts for iOS also includes a timer for stopping playback, speed controls, and back and forward skip buttons that jump 15 seconds. ITunes on the Mac shows the Up Next option when playing podcasts, but it only works for music.The Up Next section on the iOS Podcasts app is also where you’ll find chapters on supported shows like 9to5Mac’s Happy Hour podcast. Up Next for Podcasts works just like the Music app on iOS but separately. ITunes is also just not as good at podcast playback as iOS.Apple’s Podcasts app on iOS includes an Up Next feature for managing a temporary episode queue without making a dedicated playlist. Stacked spoken word just doesn’t have the same effect.Obviously the Crossfade Songs option should only apply to songs and it doesn’t, but iTunes is full of these examples. But it’s super jarring when the end of one podcast crosses into another podcast. Downcast is another podcast player that’s also on most of Apple’s platforms including CarPlay and even Apple Watch but not Apple TV yet.Promote podcast playback on the Mac to a dedicated Podcasts app outside of iTunes (and someday throw in an Apple Watch app?) and I’d be totally happy. Before iTunes, I used Instacast which offered a great experience but ran out of money for development. I also like Apple’s apps because they’re on iPhone, iPad, the Mac, CarPlay, and both Apple TVs (just not Apple Watch). But the podcast experience on a Mac shouldn’t be limited for that reason alone.And there aren’t many options for podcast playback on the Mac.
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