It’s very easy for any user to tell the difference between streamed content and stored content on an iPhone or iPod Touch. A core feature of the devices is network connectivity, and as a result people very quickly learn what features work when they have a network connection, and what features don’t. Whether or not a network connection is available is in fact so important to the usability of the device that there are icons always displayed on the screen in the upper left to tell you your network status.

It’s thus very easy for users to conceptually separate out the apps that require a network connection from those that don’t.

Apple even reinforces this by having a separate Wi-Fi iTunes Store app from the iPod app. Similarly, the YouTube app is separate from the Videos section in the iPod app.

Streaming data requires a network connection. It’s therefore easy to understand that data provided through a streaming app is separate from data stored in the device, and that one shouldn’t necessarily expect any synchronization between the two.

1) Don’t project your technical prowess with those of the average techtarded person. The iPhone is he smartphone that is making the smartphone a viable option for the average person. If double storage of podcasts that are being downloaded and synced through two different means isn’t a clusterf@#k situation I don’t know what is.

2) Who should be making the decisions for Apple’s own App Store? When did the free market turn into a socialist market where Apple has no say in what items it stocks. Apple has every right to choose which items it wishes to sell in its App Store and developers have every right to go to a different mobile platform.

If you’ve subscribed to a podcast in both the iPod app and in Podcaster, the iPod app won’t mark an episode as “played” whether you download OR stream it through Podcaster. It’s the same difference in the end.

Podcaster is third-party software. Presumably, if someone even found it on the store and wanted to install it in the first place, they would be able to understand that it was a separate app from iTunes/iPod and wouldn’t suddenly be confused by it. Apple shouldn’t be making these decisions for us. If you choose to download an extra app, then it should be your responsibility to understand how it works, and not Apple’s fault if you’re confused by what it does.

“why exactly does it matter if the podcast is streamed or downloaded?”

It matters for the simple reason that podcasts downloaded to and stored separately on an iPhone or iPod Touch from a source other than iTunes will be out of synch with, and duplicate, the ones downloaded by iTunes.

Part of the simplicity of the device is that you always know where your podcasts are: They’re in the iPod app. You also know that when you synchronize with iTunes, your podcasts will synchronize.

Imagine someone at Apple fielding these tech support questions, due to the use of Podcaster:

“I downloaded a podcast over Wi-Fi and it doesn’t show up when I tap the orange iPod icon and go to Podcasts. Where is it??”

“Why does iTunes keep downloading the same podcasts that I’ve already listened to and deleted?? I frickin HATE iTunes! It suxxx!”

“iTunes on my computer used to keep track of where I was when listening to a podcast on my iPhone. Now it doesn’t. It must be broken. When are you going to released a fixed version??”

[Person using Podcaster who hasn't turned off the iTunes podcast synchronization:] “My iPod Touch keeps losing storage space every time I synch it with iTunes. Is something wrong with iTunes? Is something wrong with my iPod, like bad memory chips? Can I bring it in for a replacement?”

“I already downloaded these podcasts on my iPhone. Why is iTunes downloading them again? Why can’t it just copy them over from my iPhone?”

The same problems would be faced by people if Apple allowed an app that downloaded music, even if the music was free.

NONE of these problems are faced by people who are only streaming music.

NONE of these problems are faced by people who buy music through the Wi-Fi iTunes Store.

And of course, none of these problems would arise if Apple added podcast downloading to the Wi-Fi iTunes Store. (“Keep your calls and letters coming, kids!”)

When streaming podcasts, people MIGHT wonder why the played/unplayed state of their podcasts in iTunes doesn’t change, but they’re more likely to quickly figure out “Oh, yeah, I streamed that one live, it’s not the same file as the one in iTunes.” It’d be like watching a rebroadcast of a TV show live and wondering why your DVR didn’t mark the copy it made of the previous broadcast as already viewed.

Daniel pointed out in his response to Gruber that Podcaster can affect iTS profits and cause consumer confusion. ‘HTML Email’ still uses your iPhone mail app to send mail after you finish composing.

Also, there are plenty of apps in the store that supersede and extend the built-in abilities of the phone. I just found one called “HTML Email” that lets you compose and send emails in HTML. Just like Podcaster, it builds upon a built-in feature of the phone, and obviously bypasses the included Mail app completely. That’s allowed, but Podcaster isn’t? Doesn’t make any sense to me.