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Yet the user experience is a mess. Podcasts need to be published on so many different platforms manually. Ratings and reviews appear to be non-existant outside

Yet the user experience is a mess. Podcasts need to be published on so many different platforms manually. Ratings and reviews appear to be non-existant outside of the Apple ecosystem. You still can't export your subscriptions from some major applications, and good luck exporting your listening history from any. I feel like creating something 10x better is such a low hanging fruit, I'm surprised nobody has done it. Make a player that syncs across devices and platforms, exports/imports to/from other podcast apps/platforms (using scraping if necessary), aggregates and gather reviews, provides a basic recommendation system, allows subscribing to keywords (people, topics), etc. If it supports audio books, YouTube subscriptions (those channels with long talks and conversations and lectures that aren't strongly visual), and saved bookmarks/Pocket/Evernote article via text-to-speech, that's even better. When I commute, walk, exercise, cook, wash dishes, stretch, brush my teeth, take a shower, do laundry, mow the lawn, shovel snow, stop looking at a screen and go to bed 1h before sleep, I want to hit play and be fed a customized audio diet.

dvtrn 7y ago
I think you would love PocketCasts.
- IggleSniggle 7y ago
  Thanks for the recommendation. For others looking, I was very happy with DoggCatcher for many years on Android, and am moderately happy with Downcast on iOS now. Downcast does offer iCloud sync with multiple switches for various settings you wish to sync, and import/export (terrible name for something that makes me happy, tho). The thing that I liked about DoggCatcher is that, as I remember (beyond usual features like search and discovery) it was relatively easy to hook it up to whatever source you wanted. I had lectures in a Dropbox link, and I could point DoggCatcher at the folder and it would pick up my audio files, while being seamlessly integrated with “normal” podcast feeds.
acjohnson55 7y ago
This exists, several times over. I use Podcast Addict.
jeffchien 7y ago
I think some of the shortcomings you point out, such as listening history sync and export to other apps, are caused by lack of financial incentives. Sync is a feature a lot of users would pay for (see Pocket Casts and PlayerFM). Export listening hisotry would just allow for other apps to take over their user base, though I think Podcasts Addicts has such a feature for backup/restore purposes. As for reviews, podcasts are so decentralized that I'm not sure where one would start with aggregating reviews. And smaller apps probably don't want to deal with the trouble of moderating ratings and reviews on their own platform. See: https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20835812/podcast-review-bomb-apple-castbox-one-star https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20835812/podcast-review-b...
scarface74 7y ago
Only one platform matters - Apple’s directory. Most other independent podcast players use Apple’s free API to their directory. And, in this case, Apple is on the side of the angels. They don’t rehost your audio or your RSS feed. They simply index it for search. Also, their is a standard for importing and exporting subscriptions - OPML. Overcast uses it.

dvtrn 7y ago

I think you would love PocketCasts.

IggleSniggle 7y ago
Thanks for the recommendation. For others looking, I was very happy with DoggCatcher for many years on Android, and am moderately happy with Downcast on iOS now. Downcast does offer iCloud sync with multiple switches for various settings you wish to sync, and import/export (terrible name for something that makes me happy, tho). The thing that I liked about DoggCatcher is that, as I remember (beyond usual features like search and discovery) it was relatively easy to hook it up to whatever source you wanted. I had lectures in a Dropbox link, and I could point DoggCatcher at the folder and it would pick up my audio files, while being seamlessly integrated with “normal” podcast feeds.

acjohnson55 7y ago

This exists, several times over. I use Podcast Addict.

jeffchien 7y ago

I think some of the shortcomings you point out, such as listening history sync and export to other apps, are caused by lack of financial incentives. Sync is a feature a lot of users would pay for (see Pocket Casts and PlayerFM). Export listening hisotry would just allow for other apps to take over their user base, though I think Podcasts Addicts has such a feature for backup/restore purposes. As for reviews, podcasts are so decentralized that I'm not sure where one would start with aggregating reviews. And smaller apps probably don't want to deal with the trouble of moderating ratings and reviews on their own platform. See: https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20835812/podcast-review-bomb-apple-castbox-one-star https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20835812/podcast-review-b...

scarface74 7y ago

Only one platform matters - Apple’s directory. Most other independent podcast players use Apple’s free API to their directory. And, in this case, Apple is on the side of the angels. They don’t rehost your audio or your RSS feed. They simply index it for search. Also, their is a standard for importing and exporting subscriptions - OPML. Overcast uses it.