If you’re in North America, there’s no doubt you’ve already heard of the Podcasts updated to version 1.5. If you haven’t already installed it, you should because this is quite an impressive update from what we previously had. I was intrigued by how RIM managed to increase their podcast channels and add support to allow for the addition of virtually any podcast currently on the interwebs – so I decided to go ahead and take a look at how I would add an external podcast channel.
I will start off by saying that RIM has added a lot of channels that are available within the podcasts app without having to go out an add an external podcast using the new Add Podcast Channel feature. Even though they have expanded to over 3,000 channels, I still couldn’t find a few, so I had to add some I have been waiting a long time to hear via BlackBerry Podcasts.
Start off by going into BlackBerry Podcasts and hitting your BlackBerry key to pop up the in app menu. Once there, select the Add Podcast Channel option and it will take you to the next window.
I went on a hunt for Around the Horn, one of my favorite shows from ESPN. How did I know they had a podcast? Well for one, they always announce it during the program at some point in time. For the sake of this experiment, let’s assume I don’t know they have one and let’s see how this new feature works. I typed in Around the Horn and hit Next. A popup appeared and all it is basically saying is you have to copy the link and then paste it back into the search area.
What I found was you didn’t even have to do that, and I’ll show you how to add a podcast channel the easier way.
I hit “OK” on the popup and shortly thereafter a browser appeared with a bunch of search results for Around the Horn podcasts. Luckily for me, it was the first link. I tried this on several different shows just to see if they had podcasts, and if you’re in the ballpark of whatever you’re searching it will most likely be your first link. So neglecting the previous popup window, I clicked the link for ESPN: Around the Horn.
Once the new page loaded (which took literally 1 second) I hit my BlackBerry key and noticed there was an Add to Podcasts option now at the top of my menu! This was pretty awesome and easy to do, right? So I clicked it and it took me back to the BlackBerry Podcasts app.
Automatically, the URL for the podcast appeared in the search area and all I had to do was hit Next and I was off! The podcast then loaded itself in the app and looked like it was there the whole time (which I assure you it wasn’t). I hit subscribe, and now the podcast shows up under my subscriptions for me to keep track of in the future.
A cool new ability that they “baked” into the update was that now you could select the podcast URL, description, and title – which, I am not entirely sure was possible before – but if it wasn’t this is pretty cool. I remember not being able to and getting frustrated with it, so I’m under the impression that this is a new feature.
You can also share the podcast with a friend over all the options featured above as well as Facebook and Twitter which weren’t shown because they didn’t fit on the screen capture.
I hope you guys all enjoyed my “How To” on adding an external podcast stream to your BlackBerry Podcasts app. Let me know how I did by leaving me a comment!
Until next time…stay techy my friends