castpodder review

[platypus_low]

I have been using castpodder for a while now and this is what i think of it Have any of you guys used it before ... some thoughts would be nice

[hellonorman]

castpodder and ipodder both function exactly how I want a podcatcher to function. I've tried all the all-in-one apps and all of them have little quirks in how they handle podcasts that I just can't use them.

I should mention that I don't have an ipod or mp3 player so I've never done the syncing thing. So I have no idea what the strengths and weaknesses are in that area. But in terms of a desktop app to manage podcasts my vote goes to castpodder/ipodder.

[Wally Balljacker]

CastPodder works well enough when you can get the damn thing installed. I've tried installing CastPodder on a dozen or so different distros, and about half of them give me PyGTK related errors. Kpodder on the other hand compiles just fine on everything, and it works well enough, so I've just stuck with that.

It's too bad iTunes doesn't run natively on Linux, because the podcasting component of iTunes is unmatched IMO. Just about every podcast you could want is available with only a couple clicks, and managing episodes is a breeze.

[platypus_low]

Yeah I covered that in my review ... this is what they answered :

http://forum.castpodder.net/phpBB2/view ... =1759#1759

Hmmm

[chuck]

I have been using castpodder for a while now and this is what i think of it Have any of you guys used it before ... some thoughts would be nice

If memory servers this is the same guy that came around the http://forums.lugradio.org/viewtopic.ph ... dio forums a while back basically demanding that everyone 'donate' to his project. The thing was that at the time I don't remember anyone in the forums ever mentioning the software before that. So it was not as if there was a large group of LugRadio people even using the package.

[Judland]

He's now on the Mandriva forums, going off the handle because someone created an RPM of it and removed his "nag screen" and putting the donation link in the Help menu. He then submitted the RPM to Mandriva's contrib. repository and the Castpodder author is blaming Mandriva of evil activities.

Now, I'm all for developers asking for donations for their work, but from what I've read, this guy's nag-screen was pretty annoying. If it were me, I would have discussed the matter with the author before making any radical changes... just out of courtesy. However, Castpodder had been released under the GPL, up until today. Now the developer has used this one case to convince himself that future releases will be proprietory and only available to paying customers. Pretty drastic, I think, because one volunteer package contributor makes an honest mistake in judgment... if even that.

Anyway, I suggested that the package contributor drop Castpodder and look at Linc's Bashpodder. Hope you don't mind, Linc.

[Linc]

He's now on the Mandriva forums, going off the handle because someone created an RPM of it and removed his "nag screen" and putting the donation link in the Help menu. He then submitted the RPM to Mandriva's contrib. repository and the Castpodder author is blaming Mandriva of evil activities.

Now, I'm all for developers asking for donations for their work, but from what I've read, this guy's nag-screen was pretty annoying. If it were me, I would have discussed the matter with the author before making any radical changes... just out of courtesy. However, Castpodder had been released under the GPL, up until today. Now the developer has used this one case to convince himself that future releases will be proprietory and only available to paying customers. Pretty drastic, I think, because one volunteer package contributor makes an honest mistake in judgment... if even that.

Anyway, I suggested that the package contributor drop Castpodder and look at Linc's Bashpodder. Hope you don't mind, Linc.

Don't mind at all. BashPodder works, someone ought use it
Actually, *lots* of people do, but it's just not all flashy and pretty like the podbrowsers because it's just a podcatcher. I have been toying of making a podbrowser, just haven't had the time to play at it yet. Figured I'd use some python and a sqlite database to do it.. Anyone wanna help?

[Patrick]

Figured I'd use some python and a sqlite database to do it.. Anyone wanna help?

I'd like to if I knew some python.

[Linc]

Figured I'd use some python and a sqlite database to do it.. Anyone wanna help?

I'd like to if I knew some python.

Wish I did too! I do have a book over here for ya though!

[Patrick]

Currently castpodder is my default app for pod catching. Hearing about the programmer bitching about how people are using his software and making it non-free is pretty funny. It's perfectly within reason for him wanting to make money from his hard work. He can close it and charge for it. Next time he shouldn't release it under the GPL. The Mandriva package maintainers were free to do what they wanted with it. They released the source code containing their changes. That's completely legit. Time to move on folks. A python-gui version of bashpodder would be awesome. Count me in on this one. I think it would be fun to design this from the ground up. Here's a thread on what we like and don't like about podcast browsers/catchers and move from there:
https://www.thelinuxlink.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1713

[Alpha13]

I agree the install of CastPodder is the hardest part. It requires wxversion and a python module that I cant remember right now. I have to use the error codes to figure it out each time I install it on a fresh Debian install.

Alpha13

[Ryochan7]

Looks like CastPodder is now a dead project.

CastPodder has been put to bed, RIP.

After 3 years of coding and its predecessor iPodder being sued by Apple, ripped by PodNova and now the code being miss-handled by distribution packages I have discontinued its development. The majority bitching that I turned it into a commercial product and the rest just plain bitching.

Well I have had enough. Support is now over, coding is stopped and all dns has been removed for the domain name.

Thanks to all that supported and donated to the project.

CastPodder died on Nov. 8, 2006 - RIP

http://blog.borgnet.us/2006/11/09/say-g ... ght-gracy/

[platypus_low]

Oh Crap ! I jinxed the project by doing a review on it. Sorry guys !

[Gomer_X]

Looks like CastPodder is now a dead project.

CastPodder has been put to bed, RIP.
...
Well I have had enough. Support is now over, coding is stopped and all dns has been removed for the domain name.

If the code was ever GPL, he is required to make source available for 3 years. No reason someone can't pick it up and maintain or improve it.

If I remember from the fiasco on the LUGRadio forums, this guy didn't have a a clue about how free software works. He just wanted to complain about how he was disabled and needed money to compensate him for time spent coding. He wasn't willing to take advantage of free resources like Sourceforge, and expected to community to support him. If you're not doing it because you love the project, you might as well not even start.

[Patrick]

If the code was ever GPL, he is required to make source available for 3 years. No reason someone can't pick it up and maintain or improve it.

Exactly. This might be the way to go. Take what he's done and improve & modify it. He might not like it but that's his problem. He should of released it as shareware.

If I remember from the fiasco on the LUGRadio forums, this guy didn't have a a clue about how free software works. He just wanted to complain about how he was disabled and needed money to compensate him for time spent coding. He wasn't willing to take advantage of free resources like Sourceforge, and expected to community to support him. If you're not doing it because you love the project, you might as well not even start.

Yeah, I remember that as well. If you're writing a program and your sole motiviation is making money then don't open source it. DemoRecorder is a good example of this. No one is holding a gun to your head to make it open source.