Agreed. I think this can be a good model (freemium), and is certainly fair. As a consumer of podcasts and as someone who pays for many services, I am not only

Agreed. I think this can be a good model (freemium), and is certainly fair. As a consumer of podcasts and as someone who pays for many services, I am not only unlikely to pay much for access to a podcast, but to attempt to juggle multiple listening platforms for podcast discovery and listening. If I can't get a podcast on the podcast app I use, I likely won't listen to it beyond a one-off episode that really interested me. I used to listen to an occasional Joe Rogan episode before he switched to Spotify. I rarely catch it at all now, though I subscribe to Spotify. I just don't take the time to stay caught up on his guest list outside of my podcast app of choice. I'm certainly fine with ads in podcasts. But I don't begrudge podcasters that want to produce exclusive content to support their efforts and perhaps offer add-free podcasts.