Rants in the Void

Author: Tiggs Panther

  • Gaming Shorts

    I just thought I’d give a (very) quick overview of three of the videogames i’ve been enjoying in recent months.

    Firstly, I played Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies on the 3DS. Very enjoyable game. I loved that all three of the Agency’s lawyers got some court time. I had a few minor niggles with some of the gameplay aspect, but not enough to stop me enjoying the game. And if you’ve liked the earlier entries in the series, and either have a 3DS or are seriously considering getting one, I highly recommend this game.

    Still on the 3DS, Bravely Default is definitely meeting my desire for a new take on the more classic Final Fantasy game style. If you enjoy the earlier games, love turn-based battles, but still want something fresh then this one is definitely worth looking into.

    Finally, I recently bought Final Fantasy X/X-2: HD Remaster and am loving revisiting the world of Spira. The move to HD and widescreen is lush. The reworked soundtrack still fits the game. Overall, it feels very much like it was designed for the PS3. In a way, it feels like how I remember playing the PS2 version. Revisiting an “old friend” without having to put up with what older games look like on newer HD televisions.
    I do, however, find myself playing a little game of  “spot the non-remastered texture”. But that’s not enough to run the game by any means.

  • On Passwords and Password Management

    Well, what with all the Heartbleed shenanigans going on at the moment, there are many of us faced with the daunting task of changing all of our passwords. Just to be safe, plus it is good practice to change them at least occasionally, Y’know?

    I have also seen people talk of various password management solutions. So I thought it was as good a time as any to mention what I use. When I was looking into solutions last year, I wanted something that wasn’t tied to any one single online service. yet I still wanted something that I could keep updated between multiple devices and platforms.

    PWSAs such, I am using a system based around Password Safe, and a Mac/iOS derivative called PWSafe. I find it useful because of the following reasons:

    • The official site gives links to compatible apps on multiple platforms
    • Individual safes are encrypted, preferable with a secure/long passphrase.
      • Even if no encryption is perfect, it still beats a plaintext file, a nice open notebook, or post-its at the monitor.
    • Accounts can be stored in groups and subgroups.
    • By default, account details open with the password and notes fields masked out, to stop shoulder-snoopers. But you can toggle them to visible as and when required.
    • The main program and the compatible apps (the ones I’ve tried, anyway) allow the copying of any account (username, password, etc) to the clipboard for easy entry.
    • Passwords are cleared form the clipboard after a period of time.
      • PWSafe, at least, allows you to set the duration.
    • You can set an account entry to remember a certain amount of passwords, should you need it.
    • it gives a timestamp of when you created and last changed any given password.
    • Random passwords can be generated within the apps.

    In addition to this, PWSafe can use safes that are either local to the computer/device or online via either iCloud or Dropbox. Or you can just manually copy the safe file between computers and devices.

    As a primarily-Apple-based user, my own setup is as follows:

    • PWSafe on my Mac, iPad and iPhone.
    • Safes stored and synced via iCloud.
    • Periodic manual copy between the Mac’s local iCloud folder and my Google Drive folder.
      • Does require a bit of searching on how to locate this folder
    • Windows installation of Password Safe pointed at the Google Drive copy of the safes.

    For anyone with an Android device, I was looking into this as well when borrowing an Android tablet recently. There is a Password Safe compatible app with an accompanying sync tool that, amongst other services, can talk to a Google Drive account.

    Unless you are purely Apple based or purely on an internal system (where you could point/sync multiple computers to a shared network location) it does require a little bit of manual interaction to work across devices. However, it does give me the freedom of not being locked into one particular site. And the bit of effort needed is well worth the convenience of pretty relatively secure password manager synced between platforms.

  • Animax UK on PS3 (Finally..!)

    animaxlogoUK Anime streaming service Animax opened its doors in late October 2013, filling the void left by its predecessor Anime On Demand. Website-only since its beginning, it has been promising a PS3 app “really soon” which arrived. Today. With no announcement.

    At the time of typing this (just before 8pm) there is still no word on their official Facebook or Twitter feeds. Although one fan thinks a premature announcement may have gone up last night, before getting hastily pulled. And there was nothing in the EU Playstation Blog in the list of this week’s releases that went live this afternoon. I know Animax tend to put their announcements out in the evening, but after the app has gone live is a little late for something they’ve been promising for months.

    The Service Itself

    Before I talk about the PS3 app, there are a few things I need to mention regarding Animax’s service itself. If, like me, you were waiting for a TV-compatible app to go live before subscribing you may not be aware of these things.

    • Firstly, yes, it’s a legal Anime streaming service. So fluctuations in quality are to be expected, depending on available bandwidth. And subtitles translating the opening and ending theme songs are likely to be the exception, not the rule. It’s not that these aren’t problems, more that they’re common problems to most streaming platforms.
    • You need credit/debit card details when signing up for the free trial, also they don’t currently seem to have PayPal as an option. Again, this is hardly unique to Animax but it is something that can vary between different subscription services., so it is useful to know.
    • When you sign up, they promptly email you your password in plaintext. Not exactly off to a strong start, here.
    • Simulcasts are free, to subcribers and non-subscribers alike, for two weeks. This isn’t unheard of.Before the episodes go behind the subscription paywall, though, they stream ads to all viewers. Yes, they force their paying subscribers to sit through adverts. For a service they are paying to access. This is something I hope they change because, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, I send to pay to join site and services specifically to get rid of the advertising BS I have no interest in seeing. i’d rather pay for a service directly. I don’t like paying to be advertised at, however.

    The PS3 App

    I’ve given is a quick look through and my initial opinion is mixed. Very early on it becomes apparent that the app is designed to be run through the PS3 gamepad. I use the official media controller and I wasn’t able to get any reaction from the ENTER button on the remote. Worse, it is the only thing on my PS3 so far that positively refuses to work with an external keyboard. I have a wireless one currently connected for using with Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn because I find trying to enter a password with a gamepad is an exercise in frustration. For Anime, however, my “Password Keyboard” is rendered completely unusable.

    In its defence, though, once you log in it will log you on as the same user each time you load it up. So you only have to go through this pain when you first install it, or change your password.

    Even with the media remote, you are forced to select items with the X button and to go back with the O button. None of the nice useful shortcut keys here.

    Browsing

    Like the website, the Animax PS3 app is a little clunky to browse. The opening “page” lists some of the available titles, followed by some of the latest episodes and anime movies. Sadly, these are listed by episode number or title, or by movie subtitle. The series name is not listed at all. So if you recognise one of the characters, you’re fine. if you don’t, it’s impossible to guess whether it’s a show you don’t follow or a thumbnail of a scene with someone new in it.

    Once you start getting into the “Shows & Movies” or “Free Simulcast” sections it gets a little easier. you’re now presented with series names. Not being able to use the remote as a normal remote is odd, though. I keep finding myself wanting to hit ENTER. Getting to the genre bar also feels a little fiddly.

    Viewing

    It starts to fare a little better here. Well, apart from the adverts on the newer episodes. But, once the episode gets going, it very quickly adjusts to the best quality your connection can handle. Although the first second or two can sometimes be a little bit too low definition for the subtitles to be easily readable.

    The controls are counter-intuitive, though. There is no getting around this. The Triangle button is the pause/resume key. Start doesn’t do anything. And if you have the media remote, the play and pause buttons do nothing more but bring up the OSD that tells you what buttons you’re supposed to be using. Fast-forward and rewind are done by holding down the R1 or L1 buttons, and the timeline jumps in ten-second increments until you let go, at which point it seeks to that part of the stream.

    Conclusion

    For a “Version 1 release” it’s OK. It works well, if not very elegantly. The quality is comparable to other legal streaming services and i’m hopeful that improvements (and apps on other platforms) are forthcoming.

    I can’t help being a little bit disappointed, though. Compared to Crunchyroll, which has been a streaming service for much longer, it just doesn’t hold up as well yet. Not the website and certainly not the one solitary console app. I’m sure things will improve but at this exact point in time it’s a little lacking. Actually having a PS3 app is a major incentive to people like myself, who will only watch on a TV and really dislike web-viewing. But there is still a long way to go.

    And, for a service whose small catalogue has a rather high percentage of exclusive titles that other regions have via Crunchyroll, it is all distance that really needs to be closed sooner rather than later. This app is a very important first step. Going forward, though, being “like Crunchyroll, only not quite as good, and costing more per month” isn’t going to cut it. Especially if they continue to get the exclusive UK rights to come of Crunchyroll’s catalogue, rater than acquiring the titles that CR doesn’t have (and hence are less liekly to get out over here), they are going to get held to CR’s standards.
    And as much of an important step the PS3 app is, it is also another thing where it still can’t match up to what Crunchyroll has to offer.

  • Anime and Blu-ray in the UK (part 1)

    blu-ray-logo-2I’m a strong believer in recent Anime shows and movies being released on Blu-ray. Hell, I’m actually a believer in any recent material created in HD to get a decent Blu-ray release. I suspect that the PR people in the UK Anime distribution companies probably see my avatar in a thread and go, “Oh Gods, another one of those!” Those of us who are really interested in more UK Blu-ray releases can be a little bit… persistent about the matter.

    Especially in my case as, after a period of not watching a great deal of Anime, it wasn’t the DVD backlog on my shelves that brought me back into the fandom. It was renting some shows on Blu-ray, and seeing the extra quality, that truly hooked me back in.

     
    Niche^3
    The problem regarding Blu-rays for Anime in the UK is the customer base being a niche within a niche within a niche. Or, more accurately, a niche (Blu-ray owners) within a niche (Anime fandom) within a relatively tiny market.

    Compared to the US or even Australia, we are a much smaller customer base simply down to being a much smaller population. So when you then factor in Anime fandom and Blu-ray preference, it is a ridiculously tiny share. The problem, however, comes in when you realise that we probably make up about the same proportion of home entertainment customers. So, understandably, we get annoyed when we see how we are treated in comparison to the overseas customers. The problem, though, is business realities.

    Costs
    There are still the Blu-ray licensing fees, the authoring fees, the initial production run, the packaging costs, any required marketing, etc. These minimum costs exist regardless of location. Added to this, in the UK we have our own particular burden to bear. It is illegal to sell home video material that has not been passed by the BBFC. They charge per-minute to check the video content and the rating label has to not only be present in the packaging but on the disc itself. (No buying pre-pressed discs from Australia, America or even Japan, then.)

    For a large population like America or (to a lesser extent) Australia, this isn’t too much of an issue. Population size means that the niche audience is still large enough to take the risk, as they can recoup the costs. Here, not so much. Apparently they need to sell at least 1000 copies on Blu-ray to make it worthwhile. It used to be closer to 3000.

    In a recent podcast, Manga Entertainment stated that production costs are falling and it can be cheaper to produce the BDs than the DVDs. This requires an overseas partner to share in the production, though. Which requires an overseas partner to be willing to work around any potential delays and even changes that the BBFC rating process imposes. And, as noted above, they can’t necessarily share in the actual production run unless the BBFC rating process is complete. So the best they can do is to share in creation of the master and then do their own run.

    Current State of Play
    As things stand, even when an English-language Blu-ray exists (even a Region B one, courtesy of Australia), a Blu-ray release is far from certain. Mainly down to the reasons stated above.  Add to this the fact that even of the people who aren’t opposed to Blu-ray, many are still fine with picking up a DVD if that’s the only option. Or, in some cases, will pick the DVD as it saves a few quid over the Blu-ray. The drawback to this is that it means that some BD-capable customers are helping the DVD format flourish to the detriment of the Blu-ray sales figures. There are other reasons, too, that are a lot harder to argue against. Like people with only one Blu-ray player. Or people whose friends or family only have DVD players. Meaning that if they need a copy that can “play anywhere”, they are limited to the DVD release – unless there’s a double-play release.
    One of the problems with this, though, is that the segment of the audience that prefers Blu-rays can be… quite vocal. And I can only see it getting more so, even if it doesn’t grow in size that fast.

    Simply put, I can’t see a huge uptake in Blu-ray owners in the near future. There will be slow uptake as people replace older gear or buy the latest games consoles, but it’s not going to be a sudden explosion by any means. Also, as noted above, some people will still buy DVDs for various reasons. Again, these reasons will slowly shift, but it is not going to be an overnight process.
    People will have multiple players. Their friends/family will have BD players. They’ll get more to the HD quality and more and more find themselves preferring that over DVD quality.

    There are two different tipping-points, though. The first is the sheer number of people buying Blu-rays. The second is the section of the UK Anime Fandom who go exclusively Blu-ray only. And this is where things potentially get… interesting. As there’s no guarantee that the first one will happen before the second.

    In future posts, I hope to comment a bit on what the current UK distributors are doing and also to speculate on how some some of crowd funding ideas may or may not help in regards to Blu-ray releases.

  • Doctor Who and the Single Part Stories

    I have a big problem with Doctor Who at the moment, one I have gone on record about in my Twitter feed and on my Podcast. I am getting increasingly sick of the constant barrage of single episode stories. For years I have disliked TV shows going in that direction, it is just that I have been able to give Doctor Who a lot more leeway than I would any other show. But this is starting to run out.

    I understand the theory behind having weekly shows that you don’t make you feel punished for jumping in partway through. The problem, though, is that this also means yo don’t get rewarded for sticking weekly with a show. Too much TV these days feels like it does not have a real ongoing presence. Doctor Who is really getting to feel like this, now.

    I have seen it in other shows where they have an ongoing plot but one of the seasons gets orders to have more standalone content and less “mythology arc”. These often, to me, end up being the weaker seasons.
    I know that some people dislike shows where most of the content is ongoing plot but I love it.

    I like TV shows where as well as being an ongoing scenario about a setting or characters, the actual plots are divided into arcs. Maybe between three and five episodes in length. Where each story is given room to breathe and grow over multiple weeks. They don’t even need to have major “event” cliffhangers, just a run of a few episodes that are clearly an ongoing narrative,
    It doesn’t even need to have really long episodes. Drop down from the 45 minute template to the half-hour show and it can work just as well.

    And before people think I am just being nostalgic for “Classic Who”, it really isn’t that at all. I have recently been watching an Anime show called Kokoro Connect. Seventeen half-hour (OK, 25 minute) episodes covering four plot arcs. Two five-partners, a three-parter and a four-parter. Each arc its own plot, yet still part of an ongoing world and characters. Each arc really affecting how the characters interact with each other.

    I have got more enjoyment out of that show than I have from nearly anything else I have watched in recent years. The structure of several short multi-part stories appeals perfectly to my narrative preferences.

    I guess it just makes it that much more annoying for Doctor Who seeing that the stories used to be structured that way. I have missed it somewhat since DW returned in 2005. Up until now, though, it hasn’t really been a dealbreaker. But after Series Six’s heavily River-focused plot, to drop back to seemingly overly isolated episodes whilst other shows are doing the multi-partners so effectively? I just want a return to that type of storytelling.

  • Why I watch what I watch

    I know my personality influences what stories I like, as well as what aspects of the stories I like. At first I thought that this was just to do with personal preference. Liking aspects that people don’t just because I have a different angle when enjoying stories. Then there were things to do with my job and the like. Empathizing more with the techie-types than the end-user types. If one side gives a rational reason for something and the rest keep waiting for “their answer” then I side with the former, even if they’re heading in the asshole direction.

    More and more, though, I am realising that the nature of my personality and my history with depression and mental illness, as well as some of the circumstances leading up to them, really colour what I like about stories.

    I never got the “Luke Hate” in Star Wars. Partially, I guess, because I was late to the party. I didn’t see the trilogy until my university days. Shortly after university, I felt very trapped by circumstance. No job, living with parents, growing depression. These were all things that beginning to resonate with me around the same age I finally saw Star Wars.
    Feeling trapped and having people who mean well trying to tell you what to do? I’ll side with the whiney brat any day. I’ve been there. Moving past it (I hope, somewhat) now, but it’s still something I empathize with.

    I love the stories where people go against authority. Most of the recent shows, especially Anime, that I have been watching centre around groups of socially-inept people banding together.

    I’ve recently watched (twice) a show called Kokoro Connect, which has a group of five outsiders who formed a school club together because there wasn’t anything out there that suited them. They then get various phenomena forced upon them by a mysterious entity who is seeking to be entertained. And you see them all struggle with things like body-swapping, acting on impulse, regressing (physically) to childhood and having their thoughts shared with the group.

    I loved watching the struggles of Inaba and Iori. Not because I like watching people suffer but because I can feel their pain at times. Whilst Inaba struggles with not being a natural people person, and has to learn to deal with her true emotions, Iori struggles to learn who she really is beneath all the masks she wears over her personality.
    These are things I have struggled with, and continue to do so. The strain of “putting on a personality” to deal with people, even friends and family, is a very real one. I don’t struggle with it as much as Iori does, not anymore anyhow, but I know what it can be like.

    Still, I find myself quite interested when I look at what I watch and read and who I empathize with. As a general rule, these are the “take crap from noone” or the “fundamentally broken” characters. These are my heroes because they are exactly how they appear or, if not, you get to see the effort and strain involved in being “somebody else”.

  • Playstation 4thoughts

    So, Sony just announced their next console. I’ve had a very quick look at the revealed features and there are a few that greatly interest me. And some that don’t of course.

    Let’s get it out of the way: I care little for the social stuff. I’m a primarily single-player gamer. A console’s primary function is to allow me to play games. if I can see what friends and acquaintances are doing too then fine, but only as an optional extra. If the “newly designed PS4 menu screen” puts that stuff front-and-center then it’s going to make me less likely to want to invest in one.

    (Decent single-player gaming experiences. That is what will make me invest in a console.)

    Suspend mode sounds useful. No more hunting for a save point before going out, getting food, meeting people, etc. Just put your console to sleep and it’ll remember where you’re up to later.
    Per-game suspend/quicksave files would be even better, mind you, but this is still useful for those times when you finally beat a difficult boss fight at bedtime and get locked into a half-hour story-mode before you are allowed to save.

    Second Screen Gaming. I hope that all future consoles have this functionality. For years I have wished that things like maps, inventories or control panels could be their own screen.

    Remote Play doesn’t interest me, unless it works in reverse. The Playstation Vita has a few games I want, but they are (for me) perfect armchair-and-large-TV games. Let me throw Persona 4: Golden‘s new HD graphics out to my 37″ TV. Seriously, I’d’ve bought a Vita specifically for that game if the Vita had some sort of HDTV Out.

    Pre-emptively downloading games that a computer thinks I might buy? Screw that! I’d need to be able to disable that f I were to consider a PS4.

    Making digital titles playable as they’re being downloaded? Interesting, but I’ve seen implementations of that sort of technology before. it’s not that i don’t think it can work, it definitely can. But it sounds like a Patent Lawsuit War just waiting to happen.
    I’d be more interested in one of the following two ideas:

    • Play new game from disc before/whilst it is being installed to hard drive.
    • Whilst installing game from disc, also start downloading any latest updates at the same time and then patching them in upon completion.
      • Also, digital titles really should be pre-patched to the latest version. No following one long download with another long download.

    Still, it looks very interesting. Like any console, though, it depends on what games come out for it. For me, this means RPGs. Until a console has at least a modest catalogue of games I want to play, I’ll save my money. Decent back-cat tends to correspond to price-drop and bug-fixes anyway. But I am more interested, and slightly less cynical, than I was.

  • HMV, Piracy, Radio and Other Related Factors

    So HMV went into administration last weekend. The press is full of stories explaining why this might be and, as expected, piracy is one of the stated factors. Now I’m not denying that unofficially acquired free music will put a dent into retail sales, but it is far from the whole story and I know that I, at least, went slightly in the other direction.

    Back in the early 2000s, 2001-2005 to be precise, I experienced new music via three main paths.

    1. Radio (usually BBC Radio 1)
    2. TV (music channels on Cable)
    3. P2P music sharing systems (looking for new stuff)

    All three of these got me interested in tracks and bands that I had not heard of otherwise, and in all three cases I would tend to go out and buy something if I listened to it a lot.

    In 2005 I moved away from my parents, where I had a little office room of my own (too small for anything my parents wanted it for, so I got a study), and I ended up renting a small studio flat for about 18 months. This ate into my overnight downloading as the computer now was very definitely switched off when I wanted to get to sleep. That and I had an ISP with a download cap.
    I also didn’t bother with subscription TV channels, as I was now paying rent and bills and was out of the house longer during the working day.
    I also pretty much lost radio access as the train ride to work had very little in the way of decent signal. I got into listening to podcasts in a big way, and therefore didn’t even really listen to the radio outside of the work commute either.

    So my three main avenues of experiencing new music all vanished in one fell swoop. To be fair, it was the compound loss of all three that stopped me going out and buying music. I only went online to download stuff if I’d already heard a track and wanted to hear more. At which point, I’d often go “Well, I have the album I want to buy a CD copy”.

    It was then several years before services like Spotify, where you could legally listen to music on-demand, case around. And I am finding myself slowly drawn back to my old patterns.
    A couple of albums I was always listening to via Spotify, I just bought from iTunes.

    iTunes, yes. As to take it back to HMV, I looked for Hybrid’s “Morning Sci Fi” and “I Choose Noise” albums at HMV. I really did. For one thing, their music is so rich I prefer to have a CD-quality copy for home and only use the compressed version when out in the world. But they were only stocking a small selection. And even now, much of the music I want to buy, you just can’t get easily in shops.

    Especially when it’s going through a band’s back catalogue of 5-10 year old music.
    Oddly, chances are if I was still downloading back in 2004 (or if Spotify existed back then) I’d have bought these albums years ago. On a physical CD. From a physical store. After all, that’s why I bought “Wide Angle”.

    Maybe I am a fringe case but, on the whole, I prefer to buy things I already know a bit about. CDs from bands I already like. Shows I have already seen, or are based on a concept I already like. Books from authors whose writing style I already know I enjoy. I ignore the hype and marketing.
    I am open to new experiences, I just need to preview them first. Preferably legally now that the options exist.

    I guess what it boils down to is that piracy is only one single aspect of why high street entertainment store are struggling. It probably does have an effect. Single-mindedly stamping it out without tackling other causes of retail sales slumps, however, won’t help. Have things in stock. Be able to get stock in quickly. And remember, you are tackling battle on three fronts. Online retail, digital retail, illegal downloads. There are three methods that are currently more convenient than physical stores and only one of the three is illegal.

    On and don’t forget, they aren’t just a music store. They do video too. And as someone with slightly non-mainstream interests, I could often get the TV shows I wanted on Amazon about twice as often as I could at HMV or Virgin/Zavvi.

  • Designed by Committee, Dictated from Above

    Sometimes, at work, I sit through a project planning meeting or hear about one from a colleague and get the impression that project planning groups are a pointless exercise purely designed to tick specific criteria decided from On High and to then convince everyone else that this is the One True Way.

    I could put this aside as my naturally cynical nature were it not for the entertainment industry doing its level best to prove me right. In fact, it is my hobbies and not my job that truly set my opinions.

    So i go home at the end of a day. I finally get to do what I’ve been waiting to do all day, stick the TV on and wish for a world where dumbass decisions weren’t made…

    Only I can’t. The very escapism i yearn is ruined by that very thing I’m attempting to escape. In games, in films, in TV shows. You see it in abandoned plotlines and odd character choices. In odd plot twists, or a contant adherence to the Status Quo without any thought of plot or character progression. Or in websites and services that ignore features that the user base actually wants, instead focussing on stupid social-interaction features that their current users don’t actually need.

    It is Executive Meddling at its very best. An absolute conviction by Upper Management that they know exactly what is needed. That they know better than their fanbase or user base. “Thou Shalt Meet These Criteria”, even if the people actually using or watching their product want things to go in the complete opposite direction.

    It’s the same sort of thinking that get series discontinued, or entertainment properties not brought over from one country to another. Some Suit thinking they know best.

    I guess I was set in my thinking before I ever saw wat went on in planning meetings. Sadly, the reality of sitting through them coupled with games/films/TV still being screwed up form On High make it unlikely my opinions will cange any time soon.

    I have nothing against changing my opinions on things for the better. It kind of helps, though, if I get to experience things that prove me wrong.
    Not happening so far.

  • iOS6 and Podcast Playlists

    With iOS6 has come a change in how Podcasts are handled. The standalone Podcasts app now handles e on-device updating, but then overrides the Music app stopping it from being able to see the Podcasts category. This also then removes any podcasts from your playlists,

    You can switch back to using Music to handle the playback, but this does come at the expense of losing the on-device updating. You can then only update podcasts on Desktop iTunes.
    This is less than idea, but until Apple fix playlisting in the Podcasts app itself (or allow podcasts to coexist in both apps like they could in iOS5), you have to choose between playlisting and on-device downloading.

    1. Delete the Podcasts app
    2. Stop the Music app
    3. Shut down and restart your iOS device

    Podcasts are now once more in their own category in Music, and your playlists will have returned.

    Hopefully Apple will returning playlisting functionalty to the Podcasts app so that podcasts can be both updated and playlisted from the device itself.

    Information found from the Apple Discussions forum, and other sources. Verified as working on my iPad. Put in a place I can remember, so I can put the link out whenever I see people hitting this particular design oversight.