Player FM recently released version 3.5 of its podcasting app for Android. The new version of Player FM comes with some impressive new features that should come in handy for those who are looking to improve their podcast-consumption experience.
First up is Player FM’s new Unified Search Results feature:
1000+ topics, 100,000+ series, and over 5 million playable episodes are now searchable from the same, universal, result screen! Using the new series carousels and topics dial, get what you’re looking for right away. In addition, you’ll get a row of results matching your own subscriptions, so it’s a quick way to jump to your favorite show.
Next on the list is the app’s redesigned Discover and Catalog features:
There’s a podcast or 10 for every occasion, making discovery a key challenge for any podcast app. Player FM has from day one focused on the discovery problem, providing an independent, open-source catalogue covering hundreds of niche topics. The Discover tab has been redesigned to make browsing a pleasure, whether you to find shows to subscribe to or episodes to play right now. As with the new search screen, you’ll see a unified screen per topic – explore related topics, series, and episodes in the one place. It’s the simplest and cleanest navigation model since the app launched.
One of the more interesting features of the new Player FM app is Flexible Download Order:
So you’ve just heard about this hot new show and you simply have to hear all episodes before sunset! Player already lets you set a custom download limit for this series to make sure you get a bunch of recent items. But you probably want to start from the start if it’s a “serial” storyline, a multi-part documentary, or a lecture series. In that case, the usual “get latest N episodes” setting won’t work for you. With Player FM 3.5, you can now optimise any series for binging with flexible downloading order. Set your new obsession to download “oldest unplayed” and cancel your weekend plans.
Player FM 3.5 can even assign customized notification tones to specific podcasts on a user’s subscription list, making it easy to know when new episodes are available from their favorite shows.
To learn more about the latest version of Player FM, click the link at the top of this entry. The app is available as a free download from the Google Play Store.