Best solution for streaming audio and/or podcasts?

[fadetonoir]

I'm planning on using one of my Raspberry Pis to play audio in my kitchen, replacing an old iPod + dock that is my current solution. The plan is to stream music from my NAS drive (either directly from the drive or via a media server, which I already have running on the NAS), which I have already seen several solutions for and have tested a couple, but I would also like to be able to listen to podcasts in the kitchen, so what are the best solutions for that and would it be better to have an all-in-one solution for music + podcasts, or separate apps for each?

I currently use iTunes for Windows to listen to podcasts, usually just streaming them, but my iTunes library is saved on my NAS drive, so that progress through podcasts is saved and I can stop listening to a podcast episode on one PC and pick up exactly where I left off on the other. Is there anything for Raspberry Pi that would allow me to do this? Either using the files from iTunes, if possible, or using a program that is available for both Windows and RPi (because I'm not loyal to iTunes).

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[Goraxium]

You could use bluetooth speakers, and you favourite app on your phone to do everything else. One example of that:
https://youtu.be/oGTXczCV30A
If you're insistent on using a Pi, but the rest of this appeals to you (perhaps for adding controllable lights / leds / whatever else), you can set the Pi up as an audio sink using PulseAudio (it has a few issues, but works for the most part).

Beyond that, have you tried VLC? It might be able what you're looking for in terms of a cross platform media player. The reason I didn't suggest it first is because controlling it would require a mouse / touchscreen, and I haven't used it for what you're doing (the closest thing for me is using OMX Player to play internet radio).

[fadetonoir]

You could use bluetooth speakers, and you favourite app on your phone to do everything else. One example of that:
https://youtu.be/oGTXczCV30A
If you're insistent on using a Pi, but the rest of this appeals to you (perhaps for adding controllable lights / leds / whatever else), you can set the Pi up as an audio sink using PulseAudio (it has a few issues, but works for the most part).

Beyond that, have you tried VLC? It might be able what you're looking for in terms of a cross platform media player. The reason I didn't suggest it first is because controlling it would require a mouse / touchscreen, and I haven't used it for what you're doing (the closest thing for me is using OMX Player to play internet radio).

I've already got the hardware side of things sorted - just using an old (but still pretty decent) set of PC speakers for the audio. I was considering building a little case for the RPi with a touchscreen on it, but I'm happy enough to use my phone for now. However, that video is awesome and I've seen a couple of other examples like that and I might consider adding Bluetooth speakers at a later date, especially if I want to add multi-room functionality.

I will check PulseAudio out - thanks for the suggestion. What are its issues? Anything I need to look out for?
And I do use VLC a lot on Windows, mostly for video. Haven't considered using it for podcasts before as it requires you to subscribe via RSS so you can't easily browse/search for new podcasts, but if it's cross platform with Windows and RPi then I might consider switching.

[Goraxium]

I will check PulseAudio out - thanks for the suggestion. What are its issues? Anything I need to look out for?

I couldn't get bt audio streaming to work at all in Jessie (although that was a while ago, so it may be working now). I've also had a few issues with it reconnecting without restarting bluetooth on the Pi if the connection was lost. I don't know if that's an issue with my bt dongle or not though. Hopefully you'll have more luck. It's great when it works.