Better unread counter (new released episodes)
The unread counter should consider only the number of unread episodes released after the last read or already downloaded episode from that podcast.
The rationale is that those old episodes (older than the last read/downloaded one) actually don't mind so much because we already know about their existence and ignored them consciously (usually because we just don't consider them interesting enough and probably most of them won't ever be listened), so what we really mind is about the new released episodes. The counter as it is today doesn't help much the users and makes me (at least) to keep my podcast list always sorted by publication date although I'd rather to order by priority.
I know it's possible to mark older episodes as read but as they weren't actually listened I can't agree with this workaround (it is not a decent solution).
It is not necessary to kill the counter as it is today, it may still exist as an option (globally or by podcast).
Extending a little the idea :)
The counter could have 4 options:
- New released (this idea) - Standard option
- All unread "old style" (as it is today)
- Total time of new released
- Total time of all unread
-
Hans Kristian Moen commented
I've been wanting this as well.
In my case I listen to some podcasts that has a pretty large back catalog (for example NPRs Planet Money or 99% Invisible) that has very good episodes that I may want to hear in the future. Therefore I don't want to use the existing "Mark all episodes read" feature - where I would loose track of back catalog episodes I have not yet heard.However, the release schedule of Planet Money and other podcasts I subscribe to can be quite sporadic, so it would be quite powerful to at a glance be able to see in the main podcast overview if new episodes have arrived.
Right now I regularly review the "New episodes" and "Recent episodes" tabs, but this is a little bit extra laborious.