Last covered here on April 17th, classic podcatcher Podcast Lounge UWP (still technically in beta) continues to improve apace. I make no apologies for dipping into its beta period with multiple Flow stories here on AAWP - the developer, Richard Castle, has been incredibly communicative in terms of what's new and changed, as well as really getting involved with readers and users, with fantastically detailed changelogs.

With apologies for length (the developer's been busy, and remember this, across four minor versions, is all in the last fortnight!), here are the changes for v1.2.45 since the last time we featured Podcast Lounge UWP:

• Fix: Downloads section combobox didn’t collapse when user revisited pages
• Fix: Secondary tile exist routines could sometimes cause and untrapped exception
• Fix: Background downloads with failing internet connection triggered an exception
• Fix: Paused podcasts were not being remembered in the UI when navigating away and returning to downloads page
• Fix: Background sync notification checks were firing twice on resuming
• Fix: Potential null reference exception with ToMediaPlaybackItem() method
• Fix: The PCAST link in the share method was getting corrupted
• Enh: Harmonised podcast deleting into one common, consistent method. User asked every time to delete.
• Enh: Blocks put in place to stop the background task running on PC when the app is visible
• Fix: Fixed issue with directory details button not working (trim BOM required on XML)
• Fix: Downloading and cancelling and downloading again led to a DB exception
• Fix: Podcast feeds often misreported file sizes. This is now updated when the download completes. This will not retroactively fix downloads before this build.
• Fix: Top100 list now correctly reports and error to the UI
• Fix: Returning to the episodes page was resetting the filter/sort view
• Fix: Errors in catalogue and top100 in some instances were overlapping old results
• Fix: Further adjustment of old playlists layout to reduce text clipping
• Fix: Moved collections header text into listview header so that it scrolls out of the way
• Fix: Play history pop up menu would not scroll correctly
• Fix: Improved listview item width to maximise space used on screen
• Fix: Importing from PCAST:// was showing debug material causing import fail
• New: Added additional button functions to the ProgramExtraDetailView for consistency
• New: Added additional button functions to the EpisodeExtraDetailView for consistency
• Enh: Added preamble explanation at the top of collection section
• Enh: Added in-progress modals when deleting large quantities of files from the download section
• Enh: Added further retry buttons near to internet connectivity error messages throughout app
• Enh: Changed directory filter box to be more in-keeping with the rest of the app using refine dropdown
• Fix: Podcast directory was no longer working. Issue with characterset identifier at start impacting parser
• Fix: Reformatted past playlist page to render better on low resolution screens
• Fix: Added fall-back code for CultureInfo exceptions on the Top100 directory page
• Fix: Cancelled downloads were marked as deleted, thus were prevented from being automatically downloaded in the future via background sync
• Fix: Orphaned downloads on start-up were being removed, but the remnants of any downloaded file was being left in storage
• Fix: Background sync downloads were being started, but procedure wasn’t waiting until they had completed, causing huge queues of files
• Fix: Added code to purge orphaned download files caused by background sync queue issue – happens on startup
• Fix: Background sync better handles early cancellation
• Fix: Detect active downloads when the app is resuming/coming to the foreground
• Fix: Failed/cancelled downloads were not being properly cleaned up and deleted
• Fix: Added code to clean up failed downloads as part of the sync routine
• Fix: Failed downloads during background sync no longer increment the download counter
• Fix: Repositioned the exception log checking code to more reliable location in launch routine
• Fix: Favourites were being updated on start-up even if there was no internet connectivity. New check in place.
• Fix: Favourites were being updated more frequently than required. Fixed.
• Fix: Orphaned downloads with no database reference are now removed when detected.
• Fix: Corrected “Great Britain” to say “United Kingdom”
• Enh: Added additional debug code to help assess unexpected growth in download folder
• Enh: Added additional disk-space checks for downloads as the current ones fail when the episode filesize is reported as zero

As you can see, there's little to latch onto it in terms of screenshots here, but just to illustrate this story(!):

Proper pick list navigation here in the Collections section... (right) extra controls within episode details...

As you can tell, development is still rocketing along - it's a shame that it started so late in Windows 10 Mobie's life cycle, but there we go. Of course, this also works on desktops, tablets, Xbox, and so on, but my gut feel is that its home is on Mobile, just as with its WP8.1 predecessor.

The beta is here in the Store. Go to it, and make sure you use the built in Feedback section to report any issues or make any suggestions.

PS. No 'PodHub UK' collection, Richard? Shame!

PPS. It's true that I've already done a big podcatcher round up for Windows 10 Mobile, so at some point I need to update it to add Podcast Lounge. And do see my top picks there, for comparison against this new contender.