Book N Tech

Friday, July 6, 2012

Windows 8 App review: Slap Dash Podcast

 

     Overview

     Podcasts are pretty important in our lives whatever we do. In the techie world podcasts are vital to getting our message out whatever it maybe. The Slap Dash Podcast app is where all of your video and audio podcasts come together for you to either watch or listen on that long plane flight. Sadly you can download audio podcasts only and the ability to download video is coming soon in the Windows 8 final version. Video and audio quality is great and there is not a big selection but there is enough to suffice for tech or liberal media needs (Conservative here with only a Fox News video podcast). The UI is nice and the audio and video looks and sounds great I can not wait to be able to download my favorite Paul Thurrot and Mary Jo Foley Windows Weekly video podcasts.

     Functionality

     The podcast app did crash once or twice while I was using it, but overall it provided a silky smooth performance. Pages did load up quickly and video and audio looked and sounded like HD quality stuff. The one thing that I experienced was a slow start up time. The splash screen was there for about 5 seconds which is really bad for any app. 

     Selection

     The podcast store does not have a very wide selection that I was looking for. Some independent blogs like Goodereader did not have their podcast inside the store. The food section was very boring and the one or two apps that I like one of them had no podcasts in it. The other sections like news do not have many podcasts in it and I only found the Fox News podcast to my liking. There was a bunch of liberal media stuff like the Bill Maher Show and Rachel Maddow which are liberal media and not my material. The tech selection thankfully was good with my favorite Windows Weekly, The Vergecast, Engadget, CNET, and TWIT, which I am very thankful for. The selection in the Slap Dash podcast app is about equal with the Tune In Radio app since in Slapdash you can watch videos. 

     Conclusion

     This app is pretty colorful and actually is useful but the lack of downloading video podcasts and can't download in the special podcast file is not very good. The usefulness of this app is questionable depending on what you need it for. There is some podcasts that are based on radio shows like Focus on the Family and the Dave Ramsey Show and Bill Maher and National Public Radio. If you like business stuff than there is a good selection in the business section and there is a lot of "yuppie" podcasts in the lifestyle section. If you like podcasts and have a Windows 8 pc or Windows Phone than this is a solid choice. 
Rating//4.5/5




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