Nokia have released a beta version of their new Podcasting application for the Nokia N91 (it also works on other S60 3rd Edition handsets). It allows you to search for, browse directories of, subscribe to and download podcasts (i.e. it's a podcatcher). Podcasting is the provision of episodic multimedia content via RSS feeds (usually audio or video). Read on for screenshots and further details.

 

 

You can browse popular podcast directories (see above) or search for podcasts (see below). Search is provided by DigitalPodcast.com. In the settings of the application you can change the search service URL (the search appears to use an RSS format). You can also manually enter a podcast URL. 

 

Podcasts can downloaded be downloaded in the background by the application. The default behaviour of the application is for manual downloads (user must select an entry within a podcast listing to download), but the application can also be set to download podcasts automatically at predefined intervals.

Within settings you can also specify the maximum amount of space you want podcast to use on your memory card.

Subscribed podcast are listed in the Podcast section of the application. Clicking on a listed podcast brings up a list of the episodes / shows available for that podcast. From here additional information about the podcast or individual episode can be viewed, downloaded podcasts can be deleted and downloads of individual episodes started. 

Audio podcasts are played back using the default Music Player application. The Music Player application includes control to fast forward and rewind through audio files (click and hold on the previous and next buttons). Video podcasts are played using Real Player. Content should be in a format the phone can read in order to be sucessfully played, although any enclosure will be downloaded. Supported formats (for out of the box phones) include MP3, WMA (on Nseries), AAC, AAC+, MP4 (limited codecs), M4A, 3GP, RA, and RV. 

 

The usual warnings apply about large data download over cellular networks because of the potential for high costs (if you are not on an unlimited data plan). However the N91 and other S60 3rd Edition phones (N80, E60, E61, E70) include WiFi which is probably the best option to use when downloading large data files such as podcasts. 

Nokia have stated that future plans for the Podcasting application include the ability to not only listen to podcasts, but also to create podcasts .