Love podcasts? Listen up
I never thought I'd be one of those people who sleeps with a smartphone under her pillow. But not long ago, I found myself hunting for a socket closer to my bed so I could drift off to the sound of a podcast. (BBC History Magazine's "History Extra" is audio NyQuil.) I now listen to podcasts more than I watch television or tune in to live radio. I clean the house to "BackStory," about American history, and "Reply All," about the Internet. On long runs, I listen to "WTF" with comedian Marc Maron and "You Must Remember This," about old Hollywood movie stars and moguls.
At some point, though, podcasts either end (R.I.P. "History of Rome"), or start to grate on me (cough, TED Talks). And the hunt for new ones resumes.
That was a daunting task even before "Serial" wormed its way into our brains. (The debut season, for those of you who have been living under a rock, reexamined the decades-old murder of a Baltimore-area high school student by her former boyfriend, Adnan Syed, whose case has since been reopened.)
Since then, the podcast universe seems to be expanding at an accelerated rate. You need help keeping up, which means you need an app.
The one you choose will depend on your needs and priorities. Do you care most about discovering new shows? Are you big on building playlists? Or do you hanker for the ability to adjust the playback speed?
One of the most lauded features of Overcast (free, iOS), which consistently racks up the best reviews, is the ability to play back a show at a faster speed without making it sound like an episode of "Alvin and the Chipmunks." It has a "nitpicky details" tab for additional custom settings, including the ability to play, pause, skip ahead, etc., through headphone remotes or car controls. Its drawback is its limited search results.
My priorities are finding new shows and playlists. Nearly all the podcatchers I tested, including Downcast ($2.99, iOS), required too many steps to customize a playlist. The Apple iPhone app (free, iOS) and Pocket Casts ($3.99, iOS and Android) allow me to add episodes to a "Play Next" queue with one tap.
Pocket Casts is prettier than Apple's app, offers background color options such as "dragon fruit red" and appears to have the most extensive search results.
But I am sticking with Apple for now. The latest version has a sleep timer.