The field of podcatching apps on Windows Phone is hotting up. Seems like people didn't want to keep plugging into their Windows PCs after all - who knew?(!) I'm planning a big round-up of options, but in the meantime note another new entry into the fray - Podcast Bandit, currently free. Screens and comments below.

Here's Podcast Bandit in action:

Rather oddly, there's a 'Love' interstitial splash screen, grabbed here for your enjoyment(!); (right) the main menu, all clear enough and very standard in aims/ambitions

A grand total of (wait for it) just four podcasts are suggested, everything else has to effectively be added by pasting or typing in feed URLs (since the search is broken - see below); (right) tapping through into one of the four feeds...

Attempting to add a podcast by searching for a title or keyword currently doesn't work at all - 'phones show chat' failed, so I tried a generic term - 'phones' - which should have produced many matches in all directories. Podcast Bandit's effort? No matches at all... Clearly early days for this application!

There's no auto-downloading, either - you have to manually tap on the download icon for each episode you want to listen to later; (right) the settings page implies that downloads can occur on battery power, over wifi (the most usual scenario for most people at home or in the office)...

...However the system was plagued with glitches. First the app crashed (left) and then (despite my settings) downloads refused to carry on (right) until my Windows Phone was on charge.

You can grab Podcast Bandit (currently for free) here in the Windows Phone Store. No doubt it will improve and it will be part of my 'Podcatcher roundup' article coming in April, along with Podcatcher, Podcast Lounge and at least one other app. Watch this space.