Like to walk around town with strangers talking in your head? Podcast fans need an MP3 player that handles episodes and feeds with finesse. Here are our top three.
Obviously, an MP3 player's foremost purpose is music playback, but these days people are using their devices for much more than just that. You can view photos, watch videos, even play games in some cases. But perhaps one of the most popular side dishes people like to enjoy is podcasts — heck, it's the main dish for some.
Podcasts are great for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that they're free. Plus, you can count on finding someone talking about just about any topic known to man, so there's something for everyone. Of course, not every MP3 player handles podcasts equally, which is why I've rounded up some of the best options for you here. The criteria? At the very least have a separate menu sort dedicated to podcasts and some decent software available for managing them. Advanced features include bookmarking capability (whether active or passive), accelerated fast forwarding, and the ability to delete podcasts on the fly once you're done listening.
Apple iPod Touch: Ah, the forerunner. iTunes gets a lot of credit here: it's a great program for managing podcasts, aside from some minor quibbles (automatically unsubscribing you after several missed downloads, for example). The iPod also offers passive bookmarking, and the Touch is great for video podcasts, which you can delete immediately after watching.
Creative Zen: Creative has gotten better with podcast support over the years. The ZenCast software is solid for podcast management, and the Zen has a separate podcast sort in the menus, though you must drill down into genre to find it. The player features active bookmarking, which you can place in various spots in the same podcast (if desired) — it remembers these spots even after syncing. You can also delete tracks on the fly and fast forward and rewind with acceleration.
SanDisk Sansa Fuze: The Fuze doesn't come with its own podcast software, but it too will work with MyPodder. There's a dedicated podcast section in the music menu, accelerated fast forwarding, and passive bookmarking. The Fuze also offers a variety of playback speeds: slow, normal, or fast. You can also delete files on the fly.
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