If you were a fan of the iPhone or Android app for the For Immediate Release podcasts that we launched in February,  you may have been as dismayed as we were when both apps stopped working properly not long after the launch.

The developer, iSites, didn’t respond to email so we kind of left it all in limbo. Such a pity.

Now, though, we hope you’ll be pleased to know that we have a new FIR app for the iPhone that does work properly in that all-important area of actually playing episodes on your iPhone, iPod or iPod Touch. (Android users, sorry, not yet for that platform.)

Thanks to Wizzard Media, the company behind Libsyn (the file hosting service we’ve used for our podcast content since 2005), we have a spanking new app for the iPhone that gives you some pretty neat functionality and features, including:

• Email the show your questions and comments
• Follow the show on Twitter
• Streaming access to play episodes from anywhere
• Always updated with the latest episodes – and an archived back catalogue
• Download the episodes and play them when offline
• Playback resume (when interrupted by a call or other distraction)
• Favorites (mark the episodes you want to return back to over and over)
• Quick access to all the contact methods for the show
• And more

You can read the detail about the features in the post by Shel on the FIR blog.

Here are some screenshots I made (more on Flickr) that will give you a sense of what it looks like:

The app is in the iTunes Store now (iTunes link) and will cost you $2.99 or £1.79 in the US or UK store respectively. We hope you agree it’s a small monetary price worth paying for an app that’s reliable, offers an interactive experience as well as that of listening to the shows, and will be actively supported.

Listen to the next episode of FIR that we’ll be recording today at about 5pm UK time (with the show published a few hours later) as we’ll be announcing a contest with free downloads of the app as prizes.

Enjoy the shows!