It is all in the delivery...

We have rolled out a better method for Windows users to install the myPodder software. Instead of users downloading a ".zip" file and copying the files to their MP3 player, they will now download an installer that steps them through installing the application files to a location of their choice.

The installer will assist the user in determining the drive letter assigned to the MP3 player and place the application files on it directly.

Alternatively, the user has the option to install myPodder to their computer's hard drive in a folder of their choice and have shortcuts to myPodder created on the desktop and/or program menu.

Like myPodder, the installer doesn't leave extra pieces of itself on the computer (other than the executable) so it doesn't require an uninstall.

When using the installer the user will be prompted for their Podcast Ready username and password so the myPodder installation can be customized for the users account.

If you have any feedback, please let us hear from you by sending an email to inquiry@podcastready.com.

Never Look Back!

You might be familiar with, or heard of, a web technology called AJAX. In a nutshell AJAX allows a portion of a web page to update without having to retrieve the entire contents of the page. This has at least two advantages:

1) Less network traffic: Since only a portion of the page is being refreshed less actual data is transferred across the network. In theory this should make the page faster as well.


2) It makes web pages behave more like desktop applications: The theory here is users are really used to interacting with desktop applications. So a well designed web page that behaves in a manner that users are already familiar with should be easier to use.

What's the point?

One of the drawbacks to AJAX is that it doesn't work well with the "back" buttons in web browsers. Web browsers want to go "back" to the last page visited. When AJAX refreshes a portion of the page the action doesn't get saved by the browser and using the "back" button can have unexpected results.

Roll your own!

In order to improve the user navigation experience for www.podcastready.com we built the "back" (and "forward") functionality in the the application. So if you perform a search and click on a podcast to view the details you now have an easy way to return to the exact same place you were in your search.

So, the next time you visit the site you will see two new buttons on the far right of the navigation bar. If you use these buttons to move back and forth in the site instead of your browser's navigation buttons I think you will like what you see.

- donald

New Tool for Podcasters

After spending the last few weeks tweaking the new site we have finally released a subscription interface for podcasters. Podcasters can now easily add a button on their web site that allows single click subscription to their podcast just by pasting a small bit of HTML into their page layout.

1) Go to www.podcastready.com and click on the help link in the top navigation bar.
2) Select "Podcasters" from the help menu and look for "Adding Podcast Ready easy one-click subscriptions to your site"
3) Click on the link: "Click here to generate the HTML for you site" and follow the instructions.

The end result looks like: