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Garmin Express and mangled podcasts

NickMusings
over 4 years ago

This has clearly been an ongoing issue but what will it take to get Garmin to handle the issues created with their watches and the inability to properly download podcasts on Macs?

I get that it isn't their fault Apple decided to take iTunes and break it into pieces but this isn't a couple weeks later, this is over a year later.

Basically a major selling point for owning a Fenix 6 Pro watch remains busted and has been ignored. I've chatted with tech support about it. They are "aware" of the issue. Stop sleeping on this already!

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I have the same issue: some podcasts files names are mangled (e.g. a full podcast title is changed to something like B3AD or B13B):

    Original info fetched from Mac Podcasts app:

    Episodes after uploading them to the watch:

    Some podcasts episodes are displayed with zero length/duration even though their duration is 20-30 minutes:

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Contact Garmin Support on chat. The more people that complain about it, the more attention it will get from the engineers. 

    I got fed up finally about two weeks ago and contacted them, they had me send my Garmin Express logs and I also sent some screenshots showing how podcasts appear on the app vs on the watch. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to jaweiss

    good luck.  The 645 Podcasts have never really worked and I have tried repeatedly to engage Garmin and they have done nothing.

    Clearly getting their product to work as advertised is not a priority for them.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I have the same problem - having moved from PC to Mac just recently.  The mangled podcast names (for me) seem to mirror how the Podcast app saves them it its weird cache folder.  But it doesn't help me solve the problem that I cannot identify or distinguish them and so my only option is to remove all podcasts and hen add them all back in. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to jaweiss

    how do you contact them on chat, and did this work?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to JTCA

    I left a review on Amazon, after which the Garmin store commented I should ask the technical support (on the Garmin contact page), after contacting them I got a standard response referring to how to use iTunes to transfer music I have purchased, so they didn't bother examining the problem. 

    Also - while I used to have the issue with the strange file names, I can't transfer podcasts at all right now, even though I see some of them in a single show in the Garmin Express app. The only option is using the Android File Transfer app and manually searching for the podcasts in the cache folder.

    I'm very disappointed, since macos Catalina has been around for more than a year and the problem isn't being fixed. Listening to podcasts without my phone was my main reason for my purchase, I should have gone with the Apple watch. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I contacted Garmin vis the support chat. I DM’ed them on Twitter and called. All of them run you through the same earnest garbage script and then claim they will send it off to the higher levels of support who might be working on it.

    Here’s the worst part, I also own an Apple Watch series 3 and the podcast issue isn’t much better on it. People complain about the lack of local storage even on the much higher capacity Apple Watches because.....well because Apple hasn’t gotten around to allocating more space or gone back around to address the concern.

    It is sort of crazy because podcasts are increasingly becoming a big deal.

    I tried Runcast and while the interface is a bit clunky it has worked well for me. The free version is limited but most people are downloading a specific podcast or two related to runs and walks. The phone is around the rest of the time. It is just doubly frustrating because it is clear Runcast is a shoe string operation and they can get a Garmin to handle podcasts better than Garmin or Apple. If Garmin we smart they’d go toss some money at them and buy them very quickly so all their watches would be class leading in this area.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to NickMusings

    Thanks, good to know that the Apple Watch doesn't solve the problem either.

    I think it shouldn't be too difficult to write a program to search the podcasts folder (~/Library/Group Containers/243LU875E5.groups.com.apple.podcasts), extract the names from the files (VLC shows the right names, so it must be stored correctly) and sync the ones that are selected with the watch using Android File Transfer. I might give it a shot if I have the time and upload to github, though it would be nice if Garmin would do that and update their program, as the vendor who advertised this functionality when I bought my watch. 

    Such a shame that not updating the software, something that could easily be done, is the reason to lose features on a otherwise good device.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to arha

    I guess it is a good/bad update. My Apple Watch Series 3 is very limited on space. Lots of forum issues basically noting how Apple doesn't seem to care much about the watches that have 8 gigs of storage. Anyway I set it up as a new Apple Watch and all is well in podcast land. It automatically syncs and downloads via the iPhone the latest 10 podcasts I follow. When I have finished them it removes and syncs the next one. It needs to be charging for it to happen but the lack of good battery life means the watch is on the stand anyway.

    I've also paid for Runcasts and the Garmin does something similar. It will update and sync when on the charger. It refreshes all my Amazon music and downloads via WiFI all the latest podcasts via Runcast. It's a great solution that sadly costs $5 per month. Too bad Garmin doesn't do their job.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Current update:  Garmin Express now groups all podcasts into one bucket - it is doesn't seem to be able to tell the difference between the various subscriptions so you see one 'folder' of podcasts with all of them in there jumbled up.  I knew I shouldn't have said yes to the 'update'.