Pocket Casts has been my app of choice for awhile. Happy to see more free web player options, that does seem like it could help keep the podcast world open and accessible.
Nice to hear! Does it also support some kind of (social?) list management or comment features, and perhaps listening statistics? I've been wondering what the "Goodreads of podcasts" is. I found goodpods.com, but I never used it.
Reactions to this news show that it's clearly a beloved app, I think I should try it!
I started listening more frequently to podcasts on an Android phones about a decade ago with the local Podcast Addict app. I later got an iPhone in 2019 (still using that one) and switched to Apple Podcasts for a while. At the same time I also used Spotify for music, and as the company increased its focus there, it also gradually usurped all my podcast listening over the last years.
I now have love/hate relationship with podcasts on Spotify: the law of least effort dictates that it simplifies "listening" by keeping both music & podcasts in the same place, on all my devices. Updates to frequently visited podcasts are readily available on my Spotify Home, so I barely have to think anymore. And yet, music and podcasts are two very different intentions. It is annoying when podcasts are suggested (and playing) on my laptop when I just wanted to put on some background music. I almost exclusively listen to podcasts on mobile devices. The algorithmic, double-use Spotify UI (triple with audiobooks?) is regularly messy when used for podcast management. I think I'm ready for a new dedicated podcast app, especially if is available cross-device like Spotify.
Also, I'm not insensitive to the argument about Spotify's walled gardens closing in RSS. Openness in the ecosystem is great and it can only be kept intact by a plethora of independent and significant parties with qualitative products. I simultaneously appreciate the author's notes about the Automattic's ownership & its still ongoing WordPress controversy. It is probably not a coincidence that Automattic wants to re-assert itself as an advocate of the "open", even if that doesn't necessarily mean "open-source" (only Pocket Casts mobile apps are open-source, since two years). Pocket Cast's "closed-source cloud" & freemium model is clearly different from WordPress's model. I will guess that makes it more zen for Matt.
Pocket Casts has been my app of choice for awhile. Happy to see more free web player options, that does seem like it could help keep the podcast world open and accessible.
Nice to hear! Does it also support some kind of (social?) list management or comment features, and perhaps listening statistics? I've been wondering what the "Goodreads of podcasts" is. I found goodpods.com, but I never used it.
Reactions to this news show that it's clearly a beloved app, I think I should try it!
I started listening more frequently to podcasts on an Android phones about a decade ago with the local Podcast Addict app. I later got an iPhone in 2019 (still using that one) and switched to Apple Podcasts for a while. At the same time I also used Spotify for music, and as the company increased its focus there, it also gradually usurped all my podcast listening over the last years.
I now have love/hate relationship with podcasts on Spotify: the law of least effort dictates that it simplifies "listening" by keeping both music & podcasts in the same place, on all my devices. Updates to frequently visited podcasts are readily available on my Spotify Home, so I barely have to think anymore. And yet, music and podcasts are two very different intentions. It is annoying when podcasts are suggested (and playing) on my laptop when I just wanted to put on some background music. I almost exclusively listen to podcasts on mobile devices. The algorithmic, double-use Spotify UI (triple with audiobooks?) is regularly messy when used for podcast management. I think I'm ready for a new dedicated podcast app, especially if is available cross-device like Spotify.
Also, I'm not insensitive to the argument about Spotify's walled gardens closing in RSS. Openness in the ecosystem is great and it can only be kept intact by a plethora of independent and significant parties with qualitative products. I simultaneously appreciate the author's notes about the Automattic's ownership & its still ongoing WordPress controversy. It is probably not a coincidence that Automattic wants to re-assert itself as an advocate of the "open", even if that doesn't necessarily mean "open-source" (only Pocket Casts mobile apps are open-source, since two years). Pocket Cast's "closed-source cloud" & freemium model is clearly different from WordPress's model. I will guess that makes it more zen for Matt.