{ "version": "https:\/\/jsonfeed.org\/version\/1.1", "title": "Ilya Birman’s Blog: posts tagged podcasts", "_rss_description": "Ilya Birman’s blog on design, cities, music, and life", "_rss_language": "en", "_itunes_email": "ilyabirman@ilyabirman.net", "_itunes_categories_xml": "<\/itunes:category>\r\n<\/itunes:category>\r\n\r\n", "_itunes_image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic-square@2x.jpg?1573933764", "_itunes_explicit": "no", "home_page_url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/tags\/podcasts\/", "feed_url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/tags\/podcasts\/json\/", "icon": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1573933764", "authors": [ { "name": "Ilya Birman", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/", "avatar": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1573933764" } ], "items": [ { "id": "391", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/overcast-episode-limit\/", "title": "Overcast and episode limit", "content_html": "

At the beginning of the recent ATP episode,<\/a> Marco Arment talked about the Episode Limit feature in Overcast (the discussion starts at around 7:50).<\/p>\n

For any podcast, you can set how many episodes to keep downloaded on the device. Say you set the limit to three, then stop listening to a podcast regularly: the next three episodes download, and after that it stops downloading them — why waste the space? Or perhaps you listen irregularly: the latest three episodes are always ready to go, while older ones will have to be downloaded manually if you need them.<\/p>\n

So Marco described a problem. What if someone manually asks to download an episode when they already have three downloaded? You can’t just immediately delete it to keep things tidy. So what do you do? Marco added a special hidden “episode downloaded manually” flag to the database, so those episodes would not count towards the limit.<\/p>\n

This is one more example of how even the most seemingly trivial features require thinking through and accounting for different cases that may not be obvious at first glance. Every user interface designer and product designer should collect and absorb examples like this.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Marco goes on. The hidden-flag solution works, more or less. But if a user occasionally downloads episodes manually, a gap accumulates between the configured and actual number of stored episodes. Naturally, over time the user forgets that they downloaded anything manually. But they can see that the limit is not working: one podcast has five episodes stored while another one has seven, for no apparent reason. So they file a bug report to Marco or leave a complaint in the App Store.<\/p>\n

Finally, Marco’s wife Tiff suggests a solution to all the problems: just don’t let users download more episodes, she said, and show them a message, roughly: “Your episode limit is three, but this would be the fourth, denied”.<\/p>\n

Marco liked the solution. I didn’t. Sure, it solves Marco’s problems, but not the user’s. The app is now refusing a direct request to download an episode, on what lawyers would call “formal grounds”. Overcast, why are you giving me a hard time? You can see I’m asking you to download this episode. Just download it! Follow the “Let me click!<\/u>”<\/a> principle.<\/p>\n

Even worse, when Overcast updates, it deletes all downloaded episodes above the configured limit.<\/p>\n

I would suggest showing a compact, non-modal message instead: “Episode limit for %podcast% raised to 4.” That way, we respect the user’s request and avoid introducing hidden statuses. Next to the Episode limit settings, add a label: “When you download episodes manually, this limit may raise to accommodate them”. On update, silently raise the configured episode limits for podcasts that have already accumulated more downloaded episodes through manual downloads.<\/p>\n", "summary": "At the beginning of the recent ATP episode, Marco Arment talked about the Episode Limit feature in Overcast", "date_published": "2026-08-20T16:05:53+05:00", "date_modified": "2026-08-20T16:05:43+05:00", "tags": [ "design", "interface", "podcasts" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:05:53 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "391", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "200", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/john-siracusa-on-the-new-macbook\/", "title": "John Siracusa on the new MacBook", "content_html": "

In ATP episode 108<\/a>, John Siracusa is on fire regarding the new MacBook’s layered battery.<\/p>\n

Listen from 47:30 to 48:35:<\/p>\n

\n
You know what else would give you more room for battery, Phil?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

You know what else would give you more room for battery, Phil? Stop tapering the damn thing! It’s barely tapered as it is, you’re just torturing yourself. It’s barely a wedge, all you are doing is making your own life worse. If you made this thing the same thickness from front to back, think of how much more battery... it’s not like an insignificant amount of battery. The batteries inside of this are so slim and so skinny and so tiny, that not tapering it could give you like 30-40% more battery!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n", "summary": "In ATP episode 108, John Siracusa is on fire regarding the new MacBook’s layered battery", "date_published": "2015-03-16T17:39:25+05:00", "date_modified": "2023-10-19T01:03:27+05:00", "tags": [ "ATP", "podcasts", "quotes" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Mon, 16 Mar 2015 17:39:25 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "200", "_rss_enclosures": [ { "url": "http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/atpfm\/atp108.mp3?download=true", "type": "audio\/mpeg", "length": "" } ], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [ "jquery\/jquery.js", "jouele\/jouele.css", "jouele\/jouele.js" ], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "155", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/john-siracusa-on-vinyl\/", "title": "John Siracusa on vinyl", "content_html": "

John Siracusa’s meticulous explanations of the obvious (to you) things are charming. The latest one I took a great pleasure listening to, is on vinyl vs CD in the episode 60 of ATP<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
The Great Odwalla Flavor Change of 2013<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Start listening at 1:52:04, but John’s speech starts at 1:53:35.<\/p>\n", "summary": "John Siracusa’s meticulous explanations of the obvious (to you) things are charming. The latest one I took a great pleasure listening to, is on vinyl vs CD in the episode 60 of ATP...", "date_published": "2014-04-22T01:49:12+05:00", "date_modified": "2023-10-19T01:03:16+05:00", "tags": [ "ATP", "music", "podcasts", "technology" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Tue, 22 Apr 2014 01:49:12 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "155", "_rss_enclosures": [ { "url": "http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/atpfm\/atp60.mp3", "type": "audio\/mpeg", "length": "" } ], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [ "jquery\/jquery.js", "jouele\/jouele.css", "jouele\/jouele.js" ], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "94", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/accidental-tech-podcast\/", "title": "Accidental Tech Podcast", "content_html": "

Marco Arment and John Siracusa both ended their podcasts this winter. I was a fan, these were actually the two best podcasts out there. Turns out, the guys could not live too long without podcasting. Even better, now they are doing a podcast together: the Accidental Tech Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You cannot not love Siracusa’s “explanations”. Here’s the previous episode, listen the explanation about skeuomorphism and leather stitching from 1:18:05 (just after the song):<\/p>\n

\n
Accidental Tech Podcast 11: A particularly exuberant adolescence<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It’s all good stuff.<\/p>\n", "summary": "Marco Arment and John Siracusa both ended their podcasts this winter. I was a fan, these were actually the two best podcasts out there", "date_published": "2013-05-12T03:59:31+05:00", "date_modified": "2023-10-19T01:02:18+05:00", "tags": [ "ATP", "podcasts" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Sun, 12 May 2013 03:59:31 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "94", "_rss_enclosures": [ { "url": "http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/atpfm\/atp11.mp3", "type": "audio\/mpeg", "length": "" } ], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [ "jquery\/jquery.js", "jouele\/jouele.css", "jouele\/jouele.js" ], "og_images": [] } } ], "_e2_version": 4306, "_e2_ua_string": "Aegea 12.0a (v4306e)" }