Is there such a thing as IMAP for podcasts?

Question

Is there such a thing as IMAP for podcasts?

I own a desktop, laptop, iPod, smartphone and a web-client all downloading StackOverflow Podcasts. (among others) They all tell me which episodes are available and which are already played. Everything is a horrible mess, ofcourse. My iPod is somewhat in sync with my desktop, but everything else is a random jungle.

The same problem with e-mail is solved by IMAP. Every device gets content and meta-information from one server, and stays in sync with it. Per device, I can set preferences (do or do not download the complete archive including junkmail).

Can we implement the IMAP approach for podcasts? Or is there a better metaphore/standard to solve this problem? How will the adoption-strategy look like?

(by the way: except for the Windows smartphone, I own a full Apple-stack of products. Even then, I run into this problem)

UPDATE The RSS-to-Imap link to sourceforge looks promesting, but very alpha/experimental.

UPDATE 2 The one thing RSS is missing is the command/method/parameter/attribute to delete/unread items. RSS can only add, not remove. If RSS(N+1) (3?) could add a value for unread="true|false", it would be solved. If I cache all my RSS-feeds on my own server, and add the attribute myself, I only would have to convince iTunes and every other client to respect that.

Answer 1

Podcasts are basically just RSS, so an IMAP solution doesn't totally make sense in this case.

You'd have to have your own podcast stack in order to achieve something like this.

Answer 2

I think there's an opportunity to miss the point by interpreting your question too literally, but....

RSS->IMAP Server might be a good fit (if you have the resources to host it)? I wonder if it supports attachments/enclosures.

Answer 3

Have you considered Google Reader for listening to your podcasts? If might be ideal if each device has a sufficient network available when it comes time to consume the podcast.

Answer 4

Since answering a question you didn't ask seems to be the norm around here, have you considered pop4? pop4.org

Answer 5

Odeo used to do this before the creators of it went and started this little website called Twitter. That's how I used to manage podcasts. Whether it still does this, I do not know. I tend to keep my podcast subscriptions to one computer and an synced-up iPod.

Answer 6

Look into gpodder - I use it and find it excellent.