When I’ve got a car trip or other prolonged activity coming up, I always make sure the latest episodes of The Pen Addict and MacBreak Weekly, my two favorite podcasts, are downloaded and ready for listening. I’ll even do some exploring on occasion in a desperate attempt to find something different than music to listen to (I overplay my whole library and listen to music in general far too often). With iOS 5 and prior, all of this used to be easy, but now things have changed.

In iOS 6, Apple decided it was time to remove the podcasts function of the Music app and replace it with a standalone app, available for free in the App Store. Properly titled Podcasts, this app released in June of this year, but has been under much criticism for its half-baked design, lag and lack of functionality. Since then, there have been three updates to the app, the last of which arriving the day of iOS 6’s release. All the same, is this app even worth the trouble Apple has gone to thus far? (more…)