Ever come across something you want to listen to online, but never got round to it because of all the hoops you have to go through to get it on your phone (or ipod touch etc)? Having to download it and then sync it with iTunes, or else email a link to yourself to get on your phone, or if it happens to be available as a podcast, having to subscribe to a new one each time when you just want one audio file from it?
Enter Huffduffer. It creates a podcast for you and lets you easily add any mp3 file to it. So if you have a podcast app on your phone that’s set to automatically check and download new episodes, the sermon will be automatically downloaded to your phone the next time the app checks (or immediately if you go in and refresh it then and there).
The whole process can be done with 2 clicks using the handy firefox plugin (above). They also have a bookmarklet which works for other browsers.
Note that it only works for mp3 files – not windows media files, videos etc. You also need to make sure that what you are attempting to huffduff is the actual audio file and not just a link to a sermon page.
I’ve been using this handy tip for nearly 2 years since reading this post by David Murray. I also bought the Downcast podcast app on his recommendation – at the time I don’t think Apple’s standalone Podcasts app existed and you had to sync with iTunes. Downcast is a lot better than Apple’s app though. It has seemed a bit iffy on iOS 7 however, and it might be worth keeping an eye on the forthcoming Overcast, which is being developed by Marco Arment who has a pretty good track record when it comes to successful apps.