jPodder vs. iPodder - Running in Ubuntu Breezy.

Ubuntu Breezy Linux is without a doubt, one of the hottest user-friendly Linux distributions around. I've been using Ubuntu for a few months on my notebook and it's been terrific. That said, one of the applications that seems to be lacking in the distribution is podcast feed pullers. Ubuntu does have ipodder, but my experience is that ipodder is pretty basic, and it doesn't seem to pull .torrents without extra configuration. I like ipodder's simple interface. When you add a feed, ipodder only asks for the feed link, it then auto-inserts the podcast title. Ipodder sets up downloads under a download sub-directory (within a user ipodder directory). Ipodder is great if you're new to downloading podcasts.

JPodder is another great podcast downloading application. It does require you insert a title, but that functionality can be an advantage, because the title is what jPodder uses to create subdirectories for each podcast. When JPodder first starts up it creates a My Received Podcasts directory in the users' home directory. As with iPodder, the location of downloads can be changed. JPodder seems to have fewer problems downloading podcasts, and I like the option of viewing downloads in a tabbed folder. The only bummer about jPodder was setting it up with the current version of Ubuntu Breezy. Normally you would install jPodder by running:

java -jar install-unix.jar

Where install-unix.jar is the jPodder java file you download. Breezy complains about what looks like two missing files, libawt and libXp. All that's missing is the libXp file. You can download it in Breezy using:

sudo apt-get install libxp6

We really need more podcast downloading applications. I like both iPodder and JPodder, but I'd like to see a GTK client included in Ubuntu. With that, it's back to listening to The Linux Link Tech Show.