I finally took the plunge and bought a smartphone, the HTC Vision
But aside from setting up the flashlight, chess, and words with friends apps, the more practical consideration was converting my podcast listening setup to the phone.
Previously I had been downloading new podcasts through the Miro open source internet TV program and then copied the MP3 files to a number of semi disposable media players that I had bought off ebay and then broken throughout the years. I had tried several free software options but only Miro seemed to work properly.
Recently however the new versions of Miro have caused my sad old Windows XP machine to virtually lock up. In order to catch five podcasts I have to run Miro, the laptop’s cooling fan roaring, and then restart the computer, a forty-five minute process.
So I was pleased to see that Android has had a much simpler solution to this process for years called Listen. So how does one migrate all those hard earned RSS feeds to the phone?
The first step is to export your feeds from Miro as an OPML file. You should have been doing this already as a backup precaution since Miro tends to crash and wipe your data on every upgrade. I used an old backup since I didn’t want the hassle of firing up that processor hog, but I believe you can find the export options from the dropdown menus.
The trick to importing the feeds is using Google Reader as the intermediary. I did this second part on a laptop. First, I imported the OPML file into Google Reader. I had forgotten how many paused feeds I had in there. But they got imported within their original folders so it wasn’t too messy.
The tricky part is you have to save a subscription feed from your Android’s Listen app. It doesn’t matter what, I found the search feature didn’t find any of my favorite podcasts, so I subscribed to one at random. Once you have an actual data presence a Listen folder will automatically appear in your Google Reader account. Because every part of Google knows what you’re doing at all times. Then it’s just a matter of plopping the feeds you actually want to listen to into that folder and they will appear within your Android.