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DESCRIPTION

Cast Away fills in a gap so far left in iTunes' implementation of Podcasts. It allows for the scheduled removal of podcasts on a per podcast basis. It also features the automatic playing of podcasts.

Podcast Removal Features:

  • Separate podcast removal settings per podcast subscription
  • Separate settings for iTunes and iPod for each podcast
  • Separate settings for long and short episodes
  • Separate over-rides, including keep latest, megabyte caps, and keep unheard
  • Global megabyte caps for iTunes and iPod
  • Can be scheduled daily if not open, or hourly if open
  • Works both with iTunes podcasts and with any playlist created by a 3rd party podcast application
Podcast Playback Features:
  • Automatic new podcast episode playing with queue and last track resume
  • Add unplayed podcasts to playback stack
  • Flexible control of which new episodes to play, when to play them, and where to start them
  • Built-in wake up and sleep timers with fading
  • More frequent podcast updating than iTunes allows

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WHAT'S NEW
Version 2.9.3:
  • Fixed a rare undefined variable "naerr" error.
REQUIREMENTS
    Mac OS X 10.4 or later
  • iTunes 8.1 or later

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SCREENSHOT

Developer:Wooden Brain Concepts
Downloads:8,169
  - Version d/l:201
Multimedia & Design:Audio
License:Shareware
Date:11 Nov 2009
Platform:PPC/Intel
Price:$8.00
RATING
****.
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    Cast Away User Reviews (11 posts)Write A Review
    sort: smiles | time
    Jul 12 2007

    CHIMOOSOFT  Anyone try this with the latest iTunes version (7.3.1)? I'm nervous to give this thing access to my library...  
    (Version 2.2)

    praisebury
    0
    [ Reply ]
    Jul 8 2007

    DEFECTOR  I heard about this app on the Mac Observer Mac Geek Gab and finally decided to track it down.

    This functionality should be free- FROM ITUNES!

    But since Apple has chosen NOT to include it, somebody has stepped up to figure it out and write an app.

    I'm curious- how can anybody with NO coding skills say this should be *free*? Seriously. This makes no sense. You can't do it, but of somebody can, they owe you, and should make this free? And you slam the developer for making this DONATIONWARE?! UNCRIPPLED and DONATIONWARE! Are you kids nuts? Gimme, gimme.

    Hey, if this was something ANYbody could do, or some people have already done, with no unique features, you'd probably have a point. So far, that's not the case.

    This is a niche product. And in the consumer world, filling those niche needs *is* more expensive than mass marketing.

    I'm going to try this app out, and if it does what I need I'm buying. Seems fair enough.

    I could wait until Apple incorporates it in to iTunes. Anybody know when that will be? Me neither.

    For those who actually wrote a credible review, it would be helpful to know where and why it was less than satisfactory. Then I might not even have to download it.  
    (Version 2.2)

    praisebury
    +1
    [ Reply ]
    Jun 4 2007

    TEACHER24_70  I keep losing me settings!

    I just downloaded Cast Away yesterday and am trying to get it to work. I'm using the "test without removing" option so that I can make sure that it treats each podcast correctly. So far, I've input all of my settings--FOR 44 PODCASTS--than then lost those settings! TWICE! Once when I quit Cast Away and then restarted it. It appears that some settings are there, but many are not (looking at the "advanced" tab).

    Has anyone else seen this? I'm tired to trying to get this to work without losing all of the hard work of setting up each podcast.

    Using on G4 Powerbook-10.3.9 & iTunes 7.1.1  
    (Version 2.2)

    praisebury
    0
    [ Reply ]
    Apr 16 2006
    *****

    KEITH NEALY  Cast Away is incredibly useful. I can set it up to get rid of podcasts automatically and so just let iTunes and Cast Away keep me up-to-date. I just sync my iPod to have all the latest stuff without having to worry about it filling up.

    The developer is very responsive and worked with me to add the ability to handle SmartPlaylists and resolve some timing issues.

    Highly recommended.  
    (Version 1.9.2r2)

    praisebury
    0
    [ Reply ]
    Dec 4 2005
    *****

    EL PAYO  I think the ability to manage podcasts is critical and can't believe that Apple left it out of iTunes.

    Without Cast Away my podcast library would quickly balloon to many gigabytes (especially with video podcasts.) I may be a 'niche' user, but I find that the app has allowed me to subscribe to many more feeds than I'd otherwise have the time to manage manually, and as another reviewer has mentioned, the new 'caps' options keep both my iPod nano and my Mac from choking on too much input.

    If you're trying to manage your podcasts video podcast subscriptions this is your app.  
    (Version 1.7.4)

    praisebury
    0
    [ Reply ]
    Nov 28 2005
    ****.

    BCOHEN  This application does what it is supposed to do and does it well. When iTunes was releaesd with podcasts I was dissapointed with its options for cleaning up podcasts. CastAway makes up for that without forcing me to give up on iTunes and use a custom podcast app like iPodder X

    If you have a flash-based MP3 player (i.e. nano) and subscribe to more than one or two podcasts they can quickly get out of hand and fill up more space on your MP3 player than you would like. Through CastAway you can specify which podcasts to retain longer (iTunes treats all podcasts the same) and set limits on how many MB each podcast should take up or a cumulative total for all podcasts. For those of you with hard-drive based MP3 players this isn't as much of an issue.

    I can see iTunes eventually improving its features for cleaning up podcats but I'm skeptical that it'll be as flexible as CastAway. (Besides, Apple benefits when you fill up your MP3 player and decide to buy one with greater capacity ;-) In the mean time, I'll continue to use CastAway. The developer is responsive and listens to suggestions (at least 2 major updates in the last week)  
    (Version 1.6)

    praisebury
    0
    [ Reply ]
    Nov 26 2005

    ANONYMOUS  If you review this product please review its functionality, not its cost. Although there is a requested fee, it is on the honor system and the product is not crippled in any way. This product should not be getting low ratings just because the developer wants some renumeration for his hard work.  
    (Version 1.5)

    praisebury
    +1
    [ Reply ]
    Nov 21 2005

    BV  free maybe. 7 quid... nuts!  
    (Version 1.3)

    praisebury
    0
    [ 2 Replies - Reply ]
    Replies:
    Nov 22 2005

    ANONYMOUS  Yeah it should be free, but "quid" refers to the British pound. Seven American dollars is less than seven quid.  
    (Version 1.3)

    praisebury
    0
    Nov 22 2005

    ANONYMOUS  All the comments so far have been about the $7 shareware fee. So apparently it is working as designed for most, which is a good thing.

    Although I too wish this function was built in to iTunes, it is not, and so far there is no sign of it coming. So Cast Away serves an important function for me and for other podcast subscribers.

    Cast Away was not an easy application to develop, so I do feel a modest shareware fee is justified. However, as a principle, WBC releases unrestricted shareware on the honor system. So if you really want to use it for free, you can lie and just check the "I paid" box. Technically this would be stealing, but I do realize this will happen. It's all honor system.  
    (Version 1.3)

    praisebury
    0

    Aug 1 2005

    ANONYMOUS  I agree. It is a little too niche and futureless for anything beyond donation-ware.  
    (Version 1.0)

    praisebury
    0
    [ Reply ]
    Jul 31 2005
    **...

    ANONYMOUS  This should be freeware. Sorry developer.  
    (Version 1.0)

    praisebury
    0
    [ 4 Replies - Reply ]
    Replies:
    Jul 31 2005

    ANONYMOUS  2 stars because it should be freeware?

    sorry but i release a whole lot of freeware-- this one took a lot to develop believe it or not. and it's not even crutched either. it's honor system.

    please rate on the basis of whether it does what it claims well.  
    (Version 1.0)

    praisebury
    0
    Jul 31 2005

    ANONYMOUS  My stars or lack of them had more to do with the value for money. I have not tested it which is why I gave a 3.   
    (Version 1.0)

    praisebury
    0
    Jul 31 2005

    ANONYMOUS  If you have not tried it then you can hardly review it using star ratings.

    Furthermore, your post was labelled as a 'comment' and a comment is NOT a review.

    You are a putz.  
    (Version 1.0)

    praisebury
    0
    Jul 31 2005

    WBC  For the record-- the developer did not write the above comment calling this guy a putz. Someone else did.

    But I concur with the other assessments.

    --WBC  
    (Version 1.0)

    praisebury
    0
    View all 11 posts >>