Podcasts want to 'stream' and take up precious BW - why can't I just download them to itunes (on the imac) and transfer

[hal]

Podcasts have been driving me nuts with the new iP6. Keep in mind that my previous iOS experience was with a 4S on iOS 6.0x.

I set up a podcast to play as I walk out the door for a walk - often I see it downloading before it plays even though it's already been downloaded onto my imac and the iphone synced before leaving the house. I go walk to the store, pause the podcast as I'm shopping and press play again when I leave and I get nothing. I message pops up - 'cellular connectivity is shut off for Podcasts (paraphrased)' and I'm given the option to click on a 'settings' link that opens Settings for me so I can turn connectivity back on, or 'OK'. Clicking ok just dismisses the message - my podcast won't play and will remain in that state until I turn on cellular connectivity for the app OR I get back to within range of a known WiFi network.

This is wreaking havok with my goal of staying within my 250mb allotment on my CHEAP VZW plan.

Isn't there some collection of settings that would allow me to download the podcasts from my imac to my iphone when I sync so that I don't have to waste precious BW re-downloading podcasts? I've tried and tried and can't ever seem to get it straight.

Today, I'm driving up to the mountains and have moved some of my podcasts (which are simply mp3 files) to a new itunes playlist. I can't afford any more accidental downloads. Getting close to my max of 250mb...

GAWDDAMMIT!!!!!

It's not working... I created a new playlist, put the mp3s in it, but even though it's checked to be one that is to be synced to the iphone, it aint syncing! DAMMIT - itunes recognizes the files and is treating them as podcasts and WILL NOT LET me sync any folder that contains any of these mp3s (even after I rename them)

I've got GBs of duplicates on the iphone! UGH!!! I'm giving up, trashing ALL of them and will re-set up from scratch. THIS SUCKS!!

I wanna hear this stuff on my drive today - CRAP!

Ugh... it crashed when I was deleting podcasts - had to force quit - this will end well I'm sure...

Seems the database is corrupt - I can not get rid of the last podcast. I guess I'll have to trash it and re-import ALL of my music etc - oh, what fun!

All I wanted to do when I started was to get a few ppodcasts on to my phone so that I could listen to them on my drive - I still haven't achieved this goal.

Sorry for the rant... I'm pissed - looks like I've gone over my allotment. I have to go now - if anyone has a sol'n, I'd be overjoyed

[Done]

Do you not have Wifi and can download directly to phone everyday? I use downcast and have it scheduled to download my podcast every morning before I leave on my commute. It doesn't really schedule but the iPhone will learn your habits and start downloading it every day at the same time.

[Chakravartin]

Haven't tried this with iOS 8, but in iOS 7 when I deleted the Podcasts app it made podcasts work as before, syncing through iTunes to the Music app.

[ADent]

I gave up on iTunes for podcasts awhile ago. It was pretty bad.

I second Downcast. I set mine to download only on WiFi. You can set it to stream (and I think that was the default on the ALL playlist) via cell if you want (I don't).

There are several other podcast catchers out there too.

[hal]

I think I finally got it before I left. I'm still being nagged to turn on cellular connectivity, but at least the podcasts that I downloaded into my freshly wiped podcast list played today while I was deep in the no-cell land.

I might get Downcast anyway. I liked the way apple's podcast app worked on my 4S & ios6 and kinda wanna give it a chance.

I read that as of ios8, the app is protected by the os now and can't be trashed.

[graylocks]

i also find Apple's Podcast app frustrating but it's livable once i stopped trying to sync the podcasts through iTunes. now i just download them directly in the app. turn off Podcasts in iTunes. life is easier that way. and i might take a look at downcast.

[Done]

Apple podcast app should be able to do the same thing, just turn on background app refresh on in setting-background App Refresh and the app you want to refresh and it will learn you habits of downloading podcast (it takes about 2 weeks to learn your habits). It's a new feature of the OS well since iOS7, I only have 2 apps that I turn on Background app refresh just because I'm sure on some apps like Facebook or twitter it could be a battery hog but with the podcast app it shouldn't be.