gPodder
I use a variety of computers and devices to access information on the web. I have a home laptop, a netbook, a work laptop and an iPhone. I tend to try and utilize cloud solutions when possible to keep certain pieces of information synced between the two. One of these pieces of information is the list of Podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis. For the most part this list is relatively static, but when I add a new Podcast that I want to listen to, I want that change to take effect everywhere.
This where gPodder comes into play. gPodder is a free Podcast aggregator that runs on Windows, Linux and OS X. I currently have Ubuntu running on my netbook and Windows 7 on my home laptop. The installation on both were simple and straightforward.
Ubuntu
The Ubuntu repository contained the gPodder application, so it was as simple as utilizing a “apt-get install gpodder” to install and place in the “Sound & Video” menu on my Ubuntu installation.
Windows 7
The Windows version is distributed as a zip file, so the installation was as simple as extracting the files into a directory and then double-clicking on the gpodder application in the extracted directory.
Both versions show a clean and intuitive interface, listing Podcasts on the left and the episodes available and downloaded on the right. By default it will download the newest episodes, but downloading older episodes is as easy as right-clicking and choosing download.
Since I have an iPhone, I had primarily been using iTunes for my Podcast aggregation. This works fine for the Windows laptop and my iPhone, but what if I wanted to have these same Podcasts available on my netbook. I do not download all my subscribed Podcasts to the iPhone, leaving the video Podcasts to reside on the laptop only. This is where gPodder really shines for me, as it allows me to keep my laptop and netbook and any device in sync.
The one feature of gPodder that drove me to using it, was the web service is provides to keep record of your Podcast subscriptions online and then allow you to set the client to use this web service to keep them in sync. I created an account for myself at gPodder’s web service site which was simple and straightforward.
So, these were the steps that I took to get my Podcasts in sync between the two computers.
1. I exported the Podcasts from iTunes into a OPML file.
2. I imported the OPML file into one of my gPodder installations.
3. Uploaded it to the gPodder web service.
4. Told the other installation of gPodder to keep in sync with the web service.
That was it. I now know that if I add a new subscription on my netbook, that gPodder will upload that subscription to my gPodder account and the next time I use the Windows client, it will be present. For someone like me who utilizes multiple devices this is a definite help to keeping another piece of my online life in sync.
