8 ms·

This strikes me as potentially bad news. PocketCasts is a great little app, with the characteristic advantages of being produced by a small indy outfit with no

This strikes me as potentially bad news. PocketCasts is a great little app, with the characteristic advantages of being produced by a small indy outfit with no agenda beyond selling a good quality product for cash. I'll keep an open mind, but it's hard to imagine it maintaining its current user-focus and content neutrality while under the thumb of content-producers. [Edit: there's a blog post on the topic from ShiftyJelly: https://blog.shiftyjelly.com/ https://blog.shiftyjelly.com/. It's a little misjudged in tone, maintaining their jokiness which has been enjoyable in other contexts but feels more like misdirection when a user is hoping for information on the future. Perhaps mildly reassuring though]

BookmarkSaver 9y ago
I mean, it wasn't acquired by a for-profit publishing house or media company (e.g. a music label, Netflix, Amazon, etc.), it's NPR. They aren't for-profit, and they generally have pretty solid products (or at least content) in my experience. I'm not gonna say that there isn't cause for concern that an organization like NPR might not be very good at this sort of development or product, but I don't think naked greed or exploitation needs to be a significant concern. And more than any content producer I can think of, I'd trust NPR to maintain relative neutrality towards external content.
- gascan 9y ago
  You could even say it might be the perfect ownership. Though I didn't believe it at first, podcasts have taken hold & don't look like they are going away any time soon, and you might even argue they are the future of public broadcasting & public radio...
- crispinb 9y ago
  As I wrote, I'm keeping an open mind. But in the absence of information more specific than Russell's rather fluffy & evasive blog post, it's entirely reasonable to be suspicious. Don't forget that for most humans, NPR isn't just a non-profit: it's a foreign government agency (and a very corporate-infected one compared to the best public broadcasters like the BBC or ABC). @peterjlee's other post here also suggests also that NPR's own current app is spyware. I have no idea whether or not that's true, but if so, it augurs badly. We'll see. I'd be delighted if my suspicions turn out to be entirely wrong.
  - jccalhoun 9y ago
    NPR isn't really a government agency. They only get about 20% of their funding from the government: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding And regardless, it was not solely bought by NPR but by a combination of NPR, WNYC, WBEZ, and This American Life (two independent radio stations and a program producer). I also wouldn't call NPR's app spyware by any means unless you call the vast majority of apps and websites spyware too.
    - crispinb 9y ago
      Fair point on the group purchase. It still puts the app largely in the hands of content producers, which is a potential conflict of interest. > I also wouldn't call NPR's app spyware by any means unless you call the vast majority of apps and websites spyware too The 'Spywareness' that matters is relative: it's not so much a matter of whether information is collected at all, but rather how much & what information, in what form, for what purpose, and who gets access. The move from an indy content-neutral app to one owned by content providers changes the incentives significantly. We don't know what will happen, so let's face it, anything we write is just speculation. But it would hardly be unduly cynical to suspect the direction to be towards more surveillance, and less support for the openness of podcasting.
      - selectodude 9y ago
        Its an app that downloads mp3 files off the internet. There’s not a whole lot of secret sauce there. There are dozens of other apps that you can use if Pocket Casts doesn’t suit you any longer.
        crispinb 9y ago
        That’s what it does now, yes, because it’s a good citizen in the open standards podcasting ecosystem. I hope it remains so. As for other apps, I haven’t found anything that suits me as well. PC has a decent UI, is user (as opposed to publisher/advertiser) focused, and syncs between all my devices. It’s a truly great indie app. Rarely are such things improved by acquisition.
alexktz 9y ago
I like the tone. It comes across as a normal guy who is excited about his product extolling the virtues of what was probably a very hard decision. I use pocketcasts daily and share your unease at anything changing. But. It looks like things may stay broadly the same so maybe we have nothing to worry about?
- crispinb 9y ago
  It seemed to me a bit dismissive of user concerns they clearly anticipated. I've always enjoyed ShiftyJelly's release notes in the past though, so maybe they're just being their usual selves. Either way, only time will tell.
tomw2005 9y ago
There's also Russell discussing it on the Material Podcast (https://www.relay.fm/material/149 https://www.relay.fm/material/149). That gives me hope (but it is a shame to hear he won't be on the podcast as often).

BookmarkSaver 9y ago

I mean, it wasn't acquired by a for-profit publishing house or media company (e.g. a music label, Netflix, Amazon, etc.), it's NPR. They aren't for-profit, and they generally have pretty solid products (or at least content) in my experience. I'm not gonna say that there isn't cause for concern that an organization like NPR might not be very good at this sort of development or product, but I don't think naked greed or exploitation needs to be a significant concern. And more than any content producer I can think of, I'd trust NPR to maintain relative neutrality towards external content.

gascan 9y ago
You could even say it might be the perfect ownership. Though I didn't believe it at first, podcasts have taken hold & don't look like they are going away any time soon, and you might even argue they are the future of public broadcasting & public radio...
crispinb 9y ago
As I wrote, I'm keeping an open mind. But in the absence of information more specific than Russell's rather fluffy & evasive blog post, it's entirely reasonable to be suspicious. Don't forget that for most humans, NPR isn't just a non-profit: it's a foreign government agency (and a very corporate-infected one compared to the best public broadcasters like the BBC or ABC). @peterjlee's other post here also suggests also that NPR's own current app is spyware. I have no idea whether or not that's true, but if so, it augurs badly. We'll see. I'd be delighted if my suspicions turn out to be entirely wrong.
- jccalhoun 9y ago
  NPR isn't really a government agency. They only get about 20% of their funding from the government: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding And regardless, it was not solely bought by NPR but by a combination of NPR, WNYC, WBEZ, and This American Life (two independent radio stations and a program producer). I also wouldn't call NPR's app spyware by any means unless you call the vast majority of apps and websites spyware too.
  - crispinb 9y ago
    Fair point on the group purchase. It still puts the app largely in the hands of content producers, which is a potential conflict of interest. > I also wouldn't call NPR's app spyware by any means unless you call the vast majority of apps and websites spyware too The 'Spywareness' that matters is relative: it's not so much a matter of whether information is collected at all, but rather how much & what information, in what form, for what purpose, and who gets access. The move from an indy content-neutral app to one owned by content providers changes the incentives significantly. We don't know what will happen, so let's face it, anything we write is just speculation. But it would hardly be unduly cynical to suspect the direction to be towards more surveillance, and less support for the openness of podcasting.
    - selectodude 9y ago
      Its an app that downloads mp3 files off the internet. There’s not a whole lot of secret sauce there. There are dozens of other apps that you can use if Pocket Casts doesn’t suit you any longer.
      - crispinb 9y ago
        That’s what it does now, yes, because it’s a good citizen in the open standards podcasting ecosystem. I hope it remains so. As for other apps, I haven’t found anything that suits me as well. PC has a decent UI, is user (as opposed to publisher/advertiser) focused, and syncs between all my devices. It’s a truly great indie app. Rarely are such things improved by acquisition.

alexktz 9y ago

I like the tone. It comes across as a normal guy who is excited about his product extolling the virtues of what was probably a very hard decision. I use pocketcasts daily and share your unease at anything changing. But. It looks like things may stay broadly the same so maybe we have nothing to worry about?

crispinb 9y ago
It seemed to me a bit dismissive of user concerns they clearly anticipated. I've always enjoyed ShiftyJelly's release notes in the past though, so maybe they're just being their usual selves. Either way, only time will tell.

tomw2005 9y ago

There's also Russell discussing it on the Material Podcast (https://www.relay.fm/material/149 https://www.relay.fm/material/149). That gives me hope (but it is a shame to hear he won't be on the podcast as often).