Posted: Sept 6, 2024
My phone audiojack is fully done. 😭 I was able to listen by jangling the headset jack in the hole, but even that no longer works. The phone mostly works otherwise but I can no longer use it to listen to music/podcasts, which is my heaviest though not necessarily most important use. The most important things on my phone (besides the phone) are the alarms and calendars. But I also do shopping and other errands on it, so it is fine for those tasks.
I ordered a longlasting (per Reddit) yet simple brand called Ruizu and its a dream come true. 🥰 It genuintely lasts a long time (nearly 8 hours and going strong), was relatively simple to upload podcast episodes to (if a bit slow) and I can delete episodes on the device after I listen to them. The final part makes organization a lot easier than other models that I've used in the past. And to boot, I'm using the phone to stim/anxiety spiral less. 😊
I mostly listen to podcasts with some converted youtube videos. I am currently using gPodder to pull podcasts, then I copy the folders with MP3s into my device and remove them from gPodder. Its easy and organized.
For the youtube video to MP3 its a bit trickier. Right now I'm using podtube.me, to convert the videos to MP3 and then generate a RSS feed for gPodder. It is free but limited to the last couple of recent episodes. This is good for channels you are mostly caught up on but want the last few episodes on the go in MP3 format. Listenbox does the same thing but costs money, pulls the latest on the hour, and pulls the last 500 episodes. So more for binging an entire channel. I haven't used it yet, but will report on it if I do. For one offs I am using EzMP3. Its free and works for now.