I did check it out earlier but feels a bit clunky that it must run the audio stream in a separate program. This means it'll inherently lack some functions like going back or forward 15 seconds with the press of a button as this is a function mostly inherent to podcast players, not e.g. VLC. Not the biggest issue but still.
Pocketcasts has a app(read:web wrapper) for Windows if someone has their Plus variant. But sadly, subscription model for podcasts is useless way to go.
Yeah I don't really get why I should pay like $20, or even more, yearly, for a service that just serves free podcasts, and where the money doesn't go to the creators at all. I like sync.. but that doesn't justify the price.
Probably not what you want, but BlueStacks might suit. For poddies alone it might not be worth it, but if you have other uses as well it might be worth it. (For example, eBay's $5 discount for ordering with the app.)
I have a ten year old i7 with 16gb so I don't notice it much, but anything less would feel the pain. And yeah it can be slow in some apps (grid connect) yet flies along with Zen pinball.