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Inside iPhone 3.0: Enhanced controls for podcast & audiobook playback

by Michael Rose Jun 21st 2009 at 8:00AM

It's on the master list of 3.0 features, but we've been sent enough tips and suggestions about it to conclude that the advanced podcast/audiobook controls came as a pleasant surprise for lots of iPhone and iPod touch owners who upgraded.

In the 3.0 version, from the playback display for a podcast, tapping the screen brings up a set of expert controls: a button to email a link to the podcast's page on iTunes; a 30-second "What's that, now?" instant rewind button; and a playback speed control to give you 1/2 speed, normal or 2x "FedEx mode" playback.

The scrubber bar itself has been given a charge, even though it doesn't look any different until you tap it; it displays the relative playback position within the episode being played. Dragging horizontally gives you high-speed scrubbing (previously known as "just plain old scrubbing"), but if you keep your finger on the screen and drag down, your scrub rate lowers step by step through half-speed, quarter-speed and 'fine scrubbing.' This detail control makes it a lot easier to cue up a particular spot in a long show or book chapter.

I've started to enjoy listening to some of my longer subscriptions in 2x mode, especially when I have a fixed amount of time to listen to the podcast but I still want to cover as much of it as I can. Even shorter news-centric podcasts can sometimes benefit from a speed boost. If any of you try out the 2x mode on an audiobook, do let us know how it works for you.

Surprisingly, I find myself using the 'email this' button quite a lot, especially to let friends and family know about some of my favorite shows. I imagine they'll be getting tired of that pretty soon.



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It's on the master list of 3.0 features, but we've been sent enough tips and suggestions about it to conclude that the advanced...
 

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john gomm

After spending a while trying to get my mp3 lectures to play at double speed on my iPhone, I finally figured out the thing that iTunes uses to tell whether the file is a podcast is a setting in

"File-> Get Info-> Options tab-> Media Kind"

Set that to podcast or audiobook and voila, your iPhone will give you the option of 2x speed.
This is great, because you can select a bunch of tracks and change the whole lot with a few clicks.

September 12 2009 at 8:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
WickedD

Has anyone noticed a bug in both 2.2.1 and 3.0 that when running audiobooks in 2x mode the pause/play doesn't sync properly? I convert mp3 files I download off a magazine's site to audiobook format in iTunes. They play fine at 2x except when I hit pause - then it goes backwards about 30-40 seconds. It seems that running in 2x mode causes the position to go out of sync.

July 14 2009 at 8:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to WickedD's comment
Nate

I noticed the same bug as WickedD. Although, I think it depends on how long you've been listening. I've been trying to remember to change it back to 1x and listen for a few seconds before I pause long playback items like audiobooks.

July 22 2009 at 3:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Christina Warren

FLICKCAST!!!! w00t!

Thanks Mike!

http://www.theflickcast.com

June 22 2009 at 11:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rwholdcraft

This may be my favorite update in OS3.0. I've been wanting the ability to more finely scrub, especially in music, since my 1st gen iPod years ago. Finally!

June 22 2009 at 9:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Flyboybob

On my iPod Touch the controls will only stay in view for a second or two and then disappear. Has anyone else seen this when playing a podcast?

June 21 2009 at 7:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
reallycrazyguy

Unfortunately, to do any of these operations requires that you completely focus on the iPod Touch/iPhone to be able to use them.

I really wish Apple would add basic controls do that I can actually use them as iPods without needing to totally focus on the device to do so.

June 21 2009 at 2:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
joey

1/2x has a weird echo effect on podcast.

June 21 2009 at 2:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tjleon

The new scrubber bar is also available in Movies, Music, and TV shows. Not just podcasts.

June 21 2009 at 1:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Samuel Minter

I am loving the double time feature as well, but this feature does have a bug if you have unchecked the "Skip When Shuffling" option on a podcast, and then try to shuffle a playlist including podcasts. You can actually crash the iPod app, and definitely don't get the expected results (listening to your podcasts in a shuffled order). I posted details on how to reproduce this here:

http://www.abulsme.com/comments.php?id=2483_0_1_0_C

June 21 2009 at 12:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Samuel Minter's comment
carride

I had the same problem with the IPhone Music application crashing while using playlists containing podcasts. Use a MP3 ID3 tag editor that can edit the Extended Tags. If you remove the ITUNESPODCAST tags the problem will be resolved when playing these podcasts on the IPhone.

July 12 2009 at 7:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Richard Flynn

I discovered this afternoon that the variable-speed scrubbing is also available when you are playing video through a TV (via the Dock connector). It’s not available when watching video on the phone itself, though.

June 21 2009 at 11:10 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Richard Flynn's comment
tuaw

Sure it is. It works on both YouTube and iPod videos.

June 21 2009 at 12:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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