Well, thank you all again for your pointers re. podcasts. I'm pleased to say that I've been able to listen to the BBC Global News podcast for the last couple of days, but only, unfortunately, by copying the podcast files to a USB memory stick and playing them direct from that. I had no luck with any of the other methods I tried.
When playing music, turn the Idrive controller so it scrolls through to the bottom of the visual boost screen. Options for audio books and podcasts then appear. I do this without thinking so I might have to double check this in the morning!
You can play them via the Media function with VB and MediaXL It's one of the small icons on the left when you're playing music - change source or something similar.
Thanks, Trombonist and Profiteroles - I've scrolled through all the functions and can't find anything that will take me direct to my podcasts. The "other media" option allows me to choose "audio books", but there's no podcast option. I wondered if this was an interface problem between the Media XL and my new iPhone 6, but it's exactly the same with my iPod classic, which is at least 6 years old.
If I try to access my iPhone via Bluetooth I can play music, but even though I'm able to isolate a "Podcasts" folder by clicking through the iPhone icons displayed on the Central Display, if I click on any of the files stored in that folder it won't play and the system reverts to playing music from the iPhone. All very weird (and frustrating).
I have the podcasts app installed and play them from there.
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I don't have the xl just the smaller screen. I have issues getting the iPhone to play items via the minis interface so I select them from the iPhone's app.
With my iPod it works perfectly. I must be an anomaly because I don't hear of many other ppl complaining.
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Crimguy - I think
I may be the anomaly! I've tried what I think you were suggesting - connected the iPhone to the Mini, opened up the Podcast app on the phone and just played direct from there. At first I thought I'd cracked it - I got sound and podcast artwork on the Mini's central display - but after about a minute of listening strange things started happening with the audio: playback speeded up, and there was a lot of interference. It soon became unlistenable so I switched back to playing the files on my USB stick.
Will persevere: it would be nice not to have to go through the rigmarole of copying podcast files to my USB every morning - but at least I do have the option of this workaround (if all else fails). Especially being an expat, I really look forward to my BBC podcasts in the morning: nothing like it on the radio here in Japan!