Assessing Windows Phone podcatchers is something of an obsession of mine, as you may recall. Since my last round-up (and yes, an update is due), one of my favourites just got itself a truly huge update, see the mind-boggling changelog below for a flavour of BringCast as it is now, and then go grab your own trial or update your copy. 

Here's the changelog from BringCast v3.0, which many of us had been using for the last 6 months or so, up to the new v3.8:

• Support for Windows Phone 8.0
• Support for larger screen sizes
• Faster app startup/resume
• Additional app themes
• In-app purchases (theme pack, general donation)
• User interface refresh
• Improved scrubbing control
• Improved podcast feed parser
• Improved podcast database searching
• Customizable seek interval
• Use lock screen controls to seek
• Refined inbox triage workflow
• Mark episodes as listened/watched
• Improved SkyDrive import/export workflow
• Clear all episodes in playlist
• Custom URI protocol for app integration
• Toggle auto-play of next episode
• Auto clean-up of old episodes
• Portable core
• Bug fixes

A gallery of screenshots of the update in action:

The interface is deliberately 'striking' (or 'garish', depending on your point of view), with big finger-friendly buttons...

The player controls and options are first class, whether for audio or video....

When you first start BringCast, there are a handful of tutorial screens to explain parts of the UI....

With v3.8, the price of BringCast has been halved - for existing paid-up users, there's this little dance through the Store to make sure all trial restrictions are lifted...

There's also a (sub-£1) theme pack, including 'Royal Purple', which was (ahem) my suggestion!

Of course, v3.8 will feature in my upcoming update to the podcatcher round-up piece, which will be extended to a whopping 15 applications. 

It's worth noting that the trial version of BringCast is limited in the number of feed subscriptions allowed, plus it's ad supported and has no scrubbing support. Or just take my word for it and reward the developers for this rather excellent app by buying it for a pounds, Euro or dollar and then optionally grabbing the theme pack, within the app, as well.

Tip: If you're upgrading, it's well worth exporting your BringCast podcast subs to SkyDrive first (just in case).

Tip 2: Within each podcast subscription, if (like me) you want new episodes to not only be downloaded, but also to appear in the 'playlist', flick left to its settings page and turn this option 'on'.

Comments welcome - does BringCast now do everything you need from a podcatcher?