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Theoretically I am sympathetic, but in reality I have 3 different podcast apps: 1. Overcast, great usability, terrible discoverability 2. Apple Podcast, bad u

Theoretically I am sympathetic, but in reality I have 3 different podcast apps: 1. Overcast, great usability, terrible discoverability 2. Apple Podcast, bad usability, excellent discoverability 3. Spotify, ok usability, ok discoverability The reason I have not unified on any one is these different trade offs and the low burden to having 3 different podcast apps. I only use Spotify for the Fantasy Footballers podcast and I can see myself unifying on Spotify if they became the sole distributor of a couple of casts I follow. Which is to say, in practice, I do not share your conviction.

cco 8y ago
Ever tried Pocket Cast? Carries Fantasy Footballers and has pretty good discoverability and search and great usability. Also offers cloud service, for an upcharge, to let you sync with a web player for your PC as well.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Overcast has a free web player....
  - cco 8y ago
    But for this person doesn't have one of their podcasts. And according to you it has ads? Overcast does not.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
petercooper 8y ago
Intriguingly, I've found more good podcasts through Overcast recently than almost anywhere else.. via their ads which are so high quality and well targeted that they work as a discovery mechanism.
- scarface74 8y ago
  I was actually going to pay for a subscription to Overcast even though you really got no benefits from it just to support a great product. Then he introduced ads and his custom built ad platform was so good that I think of them as a feature that I would keep on anyway and he’s making money.
  - kondro 8y ago
    I’m a subscriber and I keep the ads on. :-)
redisman 8y ago
iTunes on desktop is probably the worst Podcasting app
hackerbrother 8y ago
Google podcasts seems to have everything
bastawhiz 8y ago
I run a podcast hosting company, if I had a nickel for every customer that couldn't find _their own show_ on Spotify, I could lower my prices. Discoverability on Spotify is not optimal.
- nailer 8y ago
  I can't find Joe Rogan Experience, one of the most popular podcasts in the world, on Spotify, though I can find 10 related or similarly named podcasts. I'm not sure why they don't seem to have it.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Doesn’t Spotify rehost podcasts instead of just indexing the RSS feed and serving the file directly from the host server?
    - CharlesW 8y ago
      Correct, Spotify apps can't play podcasts (meaning they don't support podcast standards like RSS, etc.). Instead, their backend ingests open web media and converts it for their proprietary platform. This allows them to "own" the listener/creator relationship, control what data the creators see, and modify the content to include additional advertising should they decide that's interesting.
      - bastawhiz 8y ago
        Spotify does not monetize podcast content and likely will not in the future. My understanding is that they transcode audio to support all devices that the Spotify clients support, while being able to stream audio at a user-defined bitrate. Spotify, for what it's worth, provides better analytics than most podcast hosts can provide because they also own the client. So by controlling the data that the producer sees, they're actually doing far better than the norm. They don't "own" any relationship any more than Apple Podcasts or Google Play (or any other pre-installed app) does.
tomjakubowski 8y ago
Wow, thank you for the Overcast recommendation. The UX is indeed great. A small thing I especially love is that, while you need to "create an account" to use it, you can do so on mobile without having to hand over an email address and create a password. Hallelujah.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Overcast is written by one guy - Marco Arment. He was the first developer for Tumbler and was over development for a little while. He went on to create Instapaper and sold it and Overcast was his second major project. He also has a few podcasts, but my favorite is Accidental Tech Podcast. He cohosts it with John Siracusa - the guy who wrote the book size overviews of the first 10 versions of iOS 10 for Engadget - and Casey Liss.
  - simongr3dal 8y ago
    I'm pretty sure you mean he wrote the book size overviews for the first 10 versions of (mac)OS( X) and he did it for Ars Technica.
    - scarface74 8y ago
      Yeah that....

cco 8y ago

Ever tried Pocket Cast? Carries Fantasy Footballers and has pretty good discoverability and search and great usability. Also offers cloud service, for an upcharge, to let you sync with a web player for your PC as well.

scarface74 8y ago
Overcast has a free web player....
- cco 8y ago
  But for this person doesn't have one of their podcasts. And according to you it has ads? Overcast does not.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

petercooper 8y ago

Intriguingly, I've found more good podcasts through Overcast recently than almost anywhere else.. via their ads which are so high quality and well targeted that they work as a discovery mechanism.

scarface74 8y ago
I was actually going to pay for a subscription to Overcast even though you really got no benefits from it just to support a great product. Then he introduced ads and his custom built ad platform was so good that I think of them as a feature that I would keep on anyway and he’s making money.
- kondro 8y ago
  I’m a subscriber and I keep the ads on. :-)

redisman 8y ago

iTunes on desktop is probably the worst Podcasting app

hackerbrother 8y ago

Google podcasts seems to have everything

bastawhiz 8y ago

I run a podcast hosting company, if I had a nickel for every customer that couldn't find _their own show_ on Spotify, I could lower my prices. Discoverability on Spotify is not optimal.

nailer 8y ago
I can't find Joe Rogan Experience, one of the most popular podcasts in the world, on Spotify, though I can find 10 related or similarly named podcasts. I'm not sure why they don't seem to have it.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Doesn’t Spotify rehost podcasts instead of just indexing the RSS feed and serving the file directly from the host server?
  - CharlesW 8y ago
    Correct, Spotify apps can't play podcasts (meaning they don't support podcast standards like RSS, etc.). Instead, their backend ingests open web media and converts it for their proprietary platform. This allows them to "own" the listener/creator relationship, control what data the creators see, and modify the content to include additional advertising should they decide that's interesting.
    - bastawhiz 8y ago
      Spotify does not monetize podcast content and likely will not in the future. My understanding is that they transcode audio to support all devices that the Spotify clients support, while being able to stream audio at a user-defined bitrate. Spotify, for what it's worth, provides better analytics than most podcast hosts can provide because they also own the client. So by controlling the data that the producer sees, they're actually doing far better than the norm. They don't "own" any relationship any more than Apple Podcasts or Google Play (or any other pre-installed app) does.

tomjakubowski 8y ago

Wow, thank you for the Overcast recommendation. The UX is indeed great. A small thing I especially love is that, while you need to "create an account" to use it, you can do so on mobile without having to hand over an email address and create a password. Hallelujah.

scarface74 8y ago
Overcast is written by one guy - Marco Arment. He was the first developer for Tumbler and was over development for a little while. He went on to create Instapaper and sold it and Overcast was his second major project. He also has a few podcasts, but my favorite is Accidental Tech Podcast. He cohosts it with John Siracusa - the guy who wrote the book size overviews of the first 10 versions of iOS 10 for Engadget - and Casey Liss.
- simongr3dal 8y ago
  I'm pretty sure you mean he wrote the book size overviews for the first 10 versions of (mac)OS( X) and he did it for Ars Technica.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Yeah that....