You should have realized by now Instacast has become our favorite way of consuming audio and video podcasts here at MacStories. Whether it’s the latest episode of Shawn Today or tips from Merlin Mann on “Back to Work”, Instacast is the best way to keep podcasts organized and up-to-date without using iTunes (and thus USB sync) on your iPhone. Instacast packs a lot of features into a simple and elegant interface that’s backed by a powerful engine to refresh all your subscriptions, download episodes, stream them over WiFi and 3G and even send audio to an external speaker over AirPlay. Instacast is the Twitter of podcast apps, and it got a lot better in version 1.2 – approved a few hours ago.
Instacast 1.2 adds Dropbox integration to import / export an OPML file for all subscriptions. OPML support has also been introduced in this update, alongside the possibility to share the file via email with your friends. If you’re familiar with RSS readers, you know what to expect from OPML importing. If you’re really serious about your podcasts and you don’t want to miss anything from the authors, Instacast now allows you send show notes to Instapaper and Read It Later. The podcasts I’m subscribed to usually have brief descriptions and a few notes, but I can see why some people would like to Instapaper longer ones.
Instacast 1.2 also brings dozens of stability improvements and bug fixes, as well as minor features like “copy podcast URL to clipboard”, sharing options and auto-refresh for subscriptions. It’s a very good update (now we can’t wait for the iPad version, already in the works) and you can find it here at $1.99.
