Podcasts streaming as music samples in iTunes app? [Bugs]

Whatever changes Apple has been making to the iTunes Store back end lately has caused iTunes app on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad to stream some podcasts as music samples, rather than handing them off to the built-in media player like they're supposed to.

We've tested and everything seems fine and working properly for all of our TiPb podcasts like iPhone Live or iPad Live, or ZENandTECH, Superfunctional, or Iterate, or any of the Mobile Nations podcasts for that matter.

However, shows on other networks like 5by5 and TWiT do seem to be experiencing the problem, and it's annoying to say the least. So what can be done?

First, huge props to Rene -- whatever he's doing to edit and upload our podcasts seems to be immune to this annoying iTunes bug. Second, iTunes on iPhone and iPad is an app wrapper around online content, so Apple can change things any time, without having to give you a new version of iOS to update to, or giving you a choice to update (yeah, pretty much my nightmare scenario). Fortunately, this also means they can fix bugs any time as well. So here's where we stand:

Bug symptoms

  • You click on a podcast in the iTunes app on the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad
  • Instead of the media player coming up and your podcast playing, the little square music sample player pops up
  • This means you don't get full play/pause and other controls, you don't get the timeline, and you can't resume where you left off later

Bug fixes

  • Download your podcasts instead of streaming them (you'll need to be on Wi-Fi if they're over 20 MB)
  • Sync your podcasts over from iTunes desktop
  • Get a podcatcher app from the App Store and use that to stream
  • Wait for Apple to update

Seth and Rene have mentioned Instacast App Store link and Pocket Casts App Store link on past shows, but if you have a favorite podcatcher app you could recommend, please do so in the comments. Also, if you've found any other workaround, please let us know!

around with it -- like they have been recently for downloads and category pages -- y