14 ms·

Pocket Casts goes open source

377 points by johndbeatty 4y ago

tmaly 4y ago
This is really cool. I have been using the app for years. First on android now on ios.
eropple 4y ago
Reading this made me grin. Pocket Casts is one of the only applications that's survived me bouncing between iOS and Android and back again over the last who-knows-how-many years and I paid for their web player a long time ago, too. I've tried other players and none of them stick; the differences in affordances in something like Castro or Overcast send me back to Pocket Casts every time. They seem to have had a rough time of it over the last few years, and seeing them end up at Automattic ("land of the misfit web toys") was nice. This is a cherry on top.
- bestham 4y ago
  Spot on: “the land of the misfit web toys” or “this would have been killed at Google”.
  - mturk 4y ago
    I kind of dislike the "Google graveyard" discourse, but ... I started using Pocketcasts after the demise of Google Listen.
- nzrf 4y ago
  Can’t agree more with this statement! Definitely on my yearly renew list!
freediver 4y ago
The best podcast player. Great move, excited for its future.
Karsteski 4y ago
I really like Pocket Casts. I have basically used it every day since 2014.i don't really like that I bought it years ago, then they switched to a subscription model and I lost access to the one feature I cared about, which was syncing to their webapp. Always leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and it really made me not want to support any more young companies.
- rdegges 4y ago
  Exactly... I've been using Pocket Casts since forever. I bought the full featured version and was soo happy... Until they killed it off. Now I'm on an iPhone and Apple Watch and it's ridiculous to pay to subscribe just to be able to control it from my watch. Feels ridiculous. If they brought back even an expensive, $80 one-time purchase fee I'd be more than happy to support.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    Software development in the age of mobile requires continuous development. Who is going to pay for development of new features?
    - Karsteski 4y ago
      I mean, that's all fine and well. Just don't sell products then take them away after because you can. Imagine buying physical goods and having the business owner come to your house and take it away because it was costing them too much. Insanity.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - scarface74 4y ago
        So should they be obligated to keep supporting their servers forever? The better analogy would be like me expecting NordicTrack to service my exercise equipment for free forever. They aren’t going to take my physical equipment away. But they also aren’t going to keep sending me replacement parts and service techs out anytime I call them unless I keep paying the annual warranty. And before anyone replies that it must be shoddy equipment to keep needing repairs, heavily used exercise equipment constantly has moving parts that wear down.
shimonabi 4y ago
I was using it a few years ago, but then I switched to Google Podcasts. I will try it again, because Google Podcasts makes a "pop" sound notification every time it begins to download new episodes and it can't be turned off in the settings. It's very annoying.
- donatzsky 4y ago
  Can't you use the Android system level notification settings? Many apps don't have any notification settings themselves, since Android provides them.
moltar 4y ago
Are they open sourcing the backend? The global search is just so bad. I’ve told them multiple times about it. I’d try to contribute a fix if that was possible.
- grey_earthling 4y ago
  It's called “Pocket”, so probably not ;)
- fl0id 4y ago
  I mean, you could still offer to do it as a contractor maybe...
jimmySixDOF 4y ago
After being a user for many many years, I just recently tested out to Snipd [1] and have not looked back since. Pocket Cast were great but I don't see them innovating. With Snipd there is almost always a full text transcript available including a surprisingly accurate AI generated Table of Contents to cue through. Then I can easily save a transcribed clip of some section I am listening to for export to a TfT program like obsidian. Not sure how I ever lived without these features now I am used to them lol. [1] https://www.snipd.com/ https://www.snipd.com/
- zppln 4y ago
  > I don't see them innovating For a podcast app that's a feature, not a bug.
  - astorsnk 4y ago
    Exactly! What features do we really need? Many “feature” suggestions I come across are people trying to make podcasts something they’re not so that they suit the person writing.
    - skinnymuch 4y ago
      Snipd’s features are great. What kind of feature is making podcasts what they aren’t? Taking notes makes sense to me for podcasts. Syncing with https://Readwise.io https://Readwise.io makes sense to me too.
      - nxte 4y ago
        As someone who's never taken notes while listening to podcasts, I'm curious what your use cases are. Do you listen as part of your research for a project?
        lawtalkinghuman 4y ago
        Mostly I listen to podcasts but there's a few I listen to for learning, specifically a podcast discussing recent developments in law. I might try listening to these podcasts in Snipd (or with Airr) to try out how easy it is to clip relevant chunks, while using Pocket Casts for the vast stuff I listen to for fun/entertainment. I think most people listen to podcasts for fun and entertainment so it's unlikely they'll want to clip, get transcripts etc. But the small number of podcasts doing deep dives on scholarly, technical or professional matters? It's potentially quite useful to be able to get transcripts/excerpts with highlights and audio clips to add to personal notes for future reference.
brnt 4y ago
If I use Antennapod, is there any reason to check this out?
- KingJulian 4y ago
  PocketCasts has a feature called _Volume Boost_ which boosts the sound level. This is often helpful in some podcasts where the audio level is a bit too low in some sections. To my knowledge, Antennapod does not have this. I've been using it for over a year now.
  - kasabali 4y ago
    Is it a simple boost or is it dynamic range compression? If the latter I might be interested.
    - gtirloni 4y ago
      https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android/search?q=boost&type= https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android/search?q=...
  - fbdab103 4y ago
    This is amusing to me, as my perpetual problem with phone audio is that everything is too loud. I am repeatedly tapping between the lowest tick and full mute, because I am already at the bottom of the standard curve.
    - KingJulian 4y ago
      I see. It's the opposite for me. I listen to podcasts during long drives. The background noise tends to drown out the audio quite a bit.
  - infamia 4y ago
    AntennaPod has a volume reduction setting that is per podcast which solves the same problem, but from the opposite side if the spectrum. All of the podcasts that I subscribe to that have poor volume levels are all too loud. I'm sure there are lots of others that are too low though.
ganesh7 4y ago
stavros 4y ago
This is great news, I love Pocket Casts. Unfortunately, with Spotify acquiring Gimlet, a good chunk of good podcasts has become paywalled, and can't be listened to with any player. On top of that, Spotify absolutely sucks for podcasts, I can never find what I've listened to and what I haven't.
- simoneau 4y ago
  I have a moment of morning when a podcast I love disappears behind a firewall, most recently Heavyweight. Then I remember there are tons of other great podcasts out there I’ve never even tried and move on with my life.
  - trts 4y ago
    Heavyweight though sadly is in a league of its own. The double insult is that if you pay for Spotify you still get ads.
neverrroot 4y ago
Hope someone can add a feature for recording snippets, and maybe even one for bookmarks with notes. One of the hardest things to keep track of, getting back to the interesting pieces of a podcast. Every episode I listen to has something worth remembering, right now managing that is truly cumbersome / time consuming.
- skinnymuch 4y ago
  Airr.io and Snipd.com do the note taking. Both also do the snippets part.
- glenstein 4y ago
  I believe Podverse does that. It's an F-Droid podcast app with a paid subscription. I don't love it overall but like you I believe clips are a good feature.
- heliostatic 4y ago
  I'm a happy pocketcasts user, but started also using Snipd for that very reason. https://www.snipd.com/ https://www.snipd.com/
- scarface74 4y ago
  Overcast for iOS added that feature a couple of years ago. Marco Arment (Tumblr cofounder , Instapaper) is the author
- hackeraccount 4y ago
  I either want pocketcast to get a snippet type feature on snipd/overcast to have a web client. One or the other isn't too much to ask I think.
RefSnow 4y ago
I've been a user for years, and I have nothing to complain about. I hope they evolve even more.
IndrekR 4y ago
Previous post on the same news with more comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33269858 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33269858
Thlom 4y ago
Best part of PocketCast is the stats. It can tell me that since 2016 I've listened to 135 days worth of podcasts and apparently I've "saved" 46 days by increasing the playback speed and 3 days from trimming silence. (I also have 350 hours in my "up next" queue ...)
- hairofadog 4y ago
  I like Pocket Casts and I’m not knocking the fact that they have them or that other people like them, but stats like these make me feel existential dread.
  - myko 4y ago
    That's so interesting, I never considered it but think I understand how you feel. I've always wanted more stats like this. I expected/hoped Google Play Music (and now the inferior YouTube Music) would provide amazing overviews of what you listen to. I wish I had stats on the music I listened to in WinAmp in the 90s and a way to see the change in my musical tastes (and the consistent threads through the years). I bet I could track relationships very easily by the playlists I listened to.
    - Thlom 4y ago
      I used last.fm back in the early 00’s. I don’t think it logged playlists, but it did log every song you listened to. It kind of faded away when streaming services took over which he no or variable support for last.fm.
      - crossroadsguy 4y ago
        https://listenbrainz.org/user/<musicbrainz https://listenbrainz.org/user/<musicbrainz user id>/ is what I have used and it has been pretty good so far.
  - gernb 4y ago
    yea... reminds me of seeing the number of hours a friend had put into EverQuest. I'm sure I'd be appalled at many of my own stats for my own activities
lucasfcosta 4y ago
I quite like Pocket Casts, and I think that's the right move for them. I really hope folks don't entirely move to Spotify and their proprietary app and protocols.
- nxte 4y ago
  Unless Spotify adds support for adding podcasts via RSS Feed URL, I don't think there will be major risk of a large scale move.
  - hombre_fatal 4y ago
    I imagine very few people care about that. I can’t remember the last time I had to paste in a podcast url anywhere. I just search for a podcast in-app and click “Subscribe”.
    - nxte 4y ago
      Most of my subscriptions are like that too. But there are a few creators who I support on Patreon, and they provide special feeds with extra content, etc. These paid subscriptions are a small % of my overall lineup, but not coincidentally, they're my "essentials". I don't think I'm alone!
    - doublepg23 4y ago
      Paid subscription podcasts are very popular nowadays. It’s essential to add your paid RSS feed to an app.
      - hombre_fatal 4y ago
        Good point.
voxadam 4y ago
Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33269858 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33269858
say_it_as_it_is 4y ago
Java..
niklaslogren 4y ago
Pretty off-topic, but: > I hope that Pocket Casts can do for podcast clients what Firefox in the early days and Chromium now does for browsers — push the state of the art, be manically focused on user control, and grow a more decentralized and open web. It's pretty funny to see the claim that Chromium is "manically focused on user control" and "is growing a more decentralised and open web" :-)
- Barrin92 4y ago
  it's true though isn't it? Some people keep complaining about chromium related apps, but from different browsers to electron based apps it has without a doubt pushed open source like almost nothing else, it's sort of the OS of the web.
  - simjnd 4y ago
    The OS of the web crippling extensions and plugins because it hurts its ad-business is not what I would call "being focused on user-control". They're focused on control, yes, but not in our favour.
    - izacus 4y ago
      Users of Chromium have announced that they will reenable those extensions and plugins - so what, exactly, is the problem there? This is opensource working as intended - someone else can build it with feature set you want.
      - simjnd 4y ago
        The problem is that OP used Chromium as an example of a project "focused on user control" when in fact it is actively trying to remove control from the users's hands. I was citing extensions and Manifest v3 as an example of that, I don't care about the feature and what people can do to go around this.
  - turminal 4y ago
    It's an OS for the web, but the web is increasingly in control of the same entity that controls chromium. And chromium helped them a lot in getting that much power over the web. I don't think that qualifies as improving openness or user control.
mxstbr 4y ago
Who is making “Discover Weekly” for podcast episodes? I want personalized episode recommendations based on past listening behavior; I don't have time to dig through 30 podcast feeds to find an episode that interests me, which is why I usually only listen to specific episodes that friends recommend. I bet recommendations across all podcasts (not just ones I know of) that match my interests to others with the same listening behavior would massively increase the amount of time I spend listening to podcasts.
- h3mb3 4y ago
  Well, Spotify does some of that as far as I know. But I'd never switch to playing my podcasts there just out of principle (even though I pay the subscription too) because I don't like how they are trying to build a walled garden for podcasts and kill RSS as a thing.
  - alias_neo 4y ago
    Is ad-segment or sponsor-segment free podcasts a thing? I too pay for Spotify and I tried to get into some podcasts, starting with Darknet Diaries, but the ad and sponsor segments are just too jarring. I guess I'm not paying enough in my Spotify subscription to get it without that stuff, so who/what/where do I pay to get some podcasts I want to listen to without it?
    - h3mb3 4y ago
      I think most podcasts post the exact same episodes to all popular platforms. Some may have an ad-free version on Patreon. With Spotify, it's sort of similar to when the paid YouTube (Red/Premium) became a thing. Yea, you'd get rid of the Google-picked ads, but the in-video sponsored ads added by the video creator would still obviously remain.
    - c0wb0yc0d3r 4y ago
      Yes, but that sort of thing isn't included as part of a normal Spotify subscription. It looks like Spotify has support for podcasts subscriptions, but it's all on a one off basis as far as I can tell. Out of the podcasts I listen to, I'm not sure a single one uses Spotify for subscriptions. Commonly it seems to be Patreon. With all of that being said, many quality podcasts have jarring ad segments on purpose. Partly it serves as an ad for the ad-free feed but they also serve as a way to inform the listener that the following words aren't the podcasters' own and they were paid for an endorsement.
mcfedr 4y ago
A couple of years ago I downloaded every podcast app I could find to try them, and landed on pocket casts, I've found it the best organised for how I want to listen, and this is great news on top of that! Now I can finally see about making a PR to show buffering status
mellosouls 4y ago
Is this fully open-source, or just the clients? eg. can you use them with out any interaction with the pocket cast server, and subscribe to podcasts using open/other feeds?
- zdunn 4y ago
  The repos they linked are just for the clients. I think the server software would be way more interesting, but it's also their secret sauce so it unlikely they'll open source that. I'm with you that allowing the clients to connect to a different sync server (gpodder, etc) would be a great feature. Though, again, I don't see that happening because it would cut into their subscription service.
  - mellosouls 4y ago
    Hmmm, if that's the case, then except for those who don't mind being locked in, its not clear what the motivation is to contribute. Though I suppose if there is enough benefit to the free product (I'm not that familiar with it) - and confidence it will remain free - that might be a draw. Perhaps there is also potential for it to be forked for a genuinely open service - I'm just a bit sceptical about "open source" that doesn't keep the implied convention to be fully independent, but perhaps that's unfair or unrealistic here.
chiefalchemist 4y ago
> The team has been working really hard to make those clients totally open source... I wish he would have expanded on this, or at least link to something that did. It would be interesting to understand what a transition like that entails, what they did, why, etc. I would have preferred this over the backhand swipe at Mozilla.
wwarner 4y ago
This is great news. Long live shiftyjelly!
adwi 4y ago
Adblock plug-in?
- syklep 4y ago
  SponsorBlock maybe https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android/issues/466 https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android/issues/46...
JamesonNetworks 4y ago
Not to hijack the thread to advertise, but if you are looking for a one off fee podcast player, I've been using iCatcher and I really like the experience. One time fee for the app, and I really hope it stays that way. Developer is responsive and the app is really solid.
mastax 4y ago
Has anyone else had issues with audio jumping forward/backward while playing episodes? I think it has to do with dynamically inserted ads causing a different version of the file to be served. As pocket casts streams by sending a range request it gets different positions in the file due to different length ads or VBR.
- kossTKR 4y ago
  Yes i’ve experienced the same thing exactly as you describe.
gernb 4y ago
I just went to check it on the iPhone App store. I know that ratings might not mean anything? but, I noticed it was rated 3.9 of 5 stars vs several other podcasts with up to 6x to 90x more votes and 4.5 to 5 stars. Is it just a popularity contest or are those other apps better? Podcast App (4.8, 228k votes) Google Podcasts (4.7, 10k votes) Overcast (4.7, 33k votes) Podcast Player - Castbox (4.8, 98k votes) Pocket Casts (3.9, 2.8k votes) Stitcher (4.8, 4.7k votes) Discounting the apple podcast app (4.9, 973k votes) since it's built in and therefore has an unfair advantage. Might explain why it was sold if it was clear it wasn't winning. I certainly like the idea of a player that doesn't report to someone my interests.
- ESMirro 4y ago
  A decent portion of those negative reviews stem from various controversies the app has gone through over the years combined with a passionate and easily angered user base. The main two being: - The 7.0 UI update in which certain features such as playlists were removed & the UX streamlined. - The move from a paid app to free with subscription. It’s an excellent app for the most part, certainly on par with others in that list.
- samatman 4y ago
  App developers love to pop up a 'nudge' to rate the app, because they know people are nice, and also, they want the fsking popup to go away, so people know that 1-5 stars is the only way to dismiss it and go with 5. An open-source app will have... passionate users. Great way to shoot ourselves in the foot here.
- benhurmarcel 4y ago
  It might have something to do with brigading back when they pissed off existing users by switching to a subscription. https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/20873611/pocket-casts-plus-premium-web-desktop-apps-changes-rollback https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/20873611/pocket-casts-plu...
fomine3 4y ago
I miss speed control per podcast feature on Pocket Casts. IIRC the feature was removed. Hopefully someone add it.

377 points by johndbeatty 4y ago

This is really cool. I have been using the app for years. First on android now on ios.

Reading this made me grin. Pocket Casts is one of the only applications that's survived me bouncing between iOS and Android and back again over the last who-knows-how-many years and I paid for their web player a long time ago, too. I've tried other players and none of them stick; the differences in affordances in something like Castro or Overcast send me back to Pocket Casts every time. They seem to have had a rough time of it over the last few years, and seeing them end up at Automattic ("land of the misfit web toys") was nice. This is a cherry on top.

bestham 4y ago
Spot on: “the land of the misfit web toys” or “this would have been killed at Google”.
- mturk 4y ago
  I kind of dislike the "Google graveyard" discourse, but ... I started using Pocketcasts after the demise of Google Listen.
nzrf 4y ago
Can’t agree more with this statement! Definitely on my yearly renew list!

freediver 4y ago

The best podcast player. Great move, excited for its future.

Karsteski 4y ago

I really like Pocket Casts. I have basically used it every day since 2014.i don't really like that I bought it years ago, then they switched to a subscription model and I lost access to the one feature I cared about, which was syncing to their webapp. Always leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and it really made me not want to support any more young companies.

rdegges 4y ago
Exactly... I've been using Pocket Casts since forever. I bought the full featured version and was soo happy... Until they killed it off. Now I'm on an iPhone and Apple Watch and it's ridiculous to pay to subscribe just to be able to control it from my watch. Feels ridiculous. If they brought back even an expensive, $80 one-time purchase fee I'd be more than happy to support.
- scarface74 4y ago
  Software development in the age of mobile requires continuous development. Who is going to pay for development of new features?
  - Karsteski 4y ago
    I mean, that's all fine and well. Just don't sell products then take them away after because you can. Imagine buying physical goods and having the business owner come to your house and take it away because it was costing them too much. Insanity.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - scarface74 4y ago
      So should they be obligated to keep supporting their servers forever? The better analogy would be like me expecting NordicTrack to service my exercise equipment for free forever. They aren’t going to take my physical equipment away. But they also aren’t going to keep sending me replacement parts and service techs out anytime I call them unless I keep paying the annual warranty. And before anyone replies that it must be shoddy equipment to keep needing repairs, heavily used exercise equipment constantly has moving parts that wear down.

shimonabi 4y ago

I was using it a few years ago, but then I switched to Google Podcasts. I will try it again, because Google Podcasts makes a "pop" sound notification every time it begins to download new episodes and it can't be turned off in the settings. It's very annoying.

donatzsky 4y ago
Can't you use the Android system level notification settings? Many apps don't have any notification settings themselves, since Android provides them.

moltar 4y ago

Are they open sourcing the backend? The global search is just so bad. I’ve told them multiple times about it. I’d try to contribute a fix if that was possible.

grey_earthling 4y ago
It's called “Pocket”, so probably not ;)
fl0id 4y ago
I mean, you could still offer to do it as a contractor maybe...

jimmySixDOF 4y ago

After being a user for many many years, I just recently tested out to Snipd [1] and have not looked back since. Pocket Cast were great but I don't see them innovating. With Snipd there is almost always a full text transcript available including a surprisingly accurate AI generated Table of Contents to cue through. Then I can easily save a transcribed clip of some section I am listening to for export to a TfT program like obsidian. Not sure how I ever lived without these features now I am used to them lol. [1] https://www.snipd.com/ https://www.snipd.com/

zppln 4y ago
> I don't see them innovating For a podcast app that's a feature, not a bug.
- astorsnk 4y ago
  Exactly! What features do we really need? Many “feature” suggestions I come across are people trying to make podcasts something they’re not so that they suit the person writing.
  - skinnymuch 4y ago
    Snipd’s features are great. What kind of feature is making podcasts what they aren’t? Taking notes makes sense to me for podcasts. Syncing with https://Readwise.io https://Readwise.io makes sense to me too.
    - nxte 4y ago
      As someone who's never taken notes while listening to podcasts, I'm curious what your use cases are. Do you listen as part of your research for a project?
      - lawtalkinghuman 4y ago
        Mostly I listen to podcasts but there's a few I listen to for learning, specifically a podcast discussing recent developments in law. I might try listening to these podcasts in Snipd (or with Airr) to try out how easy it is to clip relevant chunks, while using Pocket Casts for the vast stuff I listen to for fun/entertainment. I think most people listen to podcasts for fun and entertainment so it's unlikely they'll want to clip, get transcripts etc. But the small number of podcasts doing deep dives on scholarly, technical or professional matters? It's potentially quite useful to be able to get transcripts/excerpts with highlights and audio clips to add to personal notes for future reference.

brnt 4y ago

If I use Antennapod, is there any reason to check this out?

KingJulian 4y ago
PocketCasts has a feature called _Volume Boost_ which boosts the sound level. This is often helpful in some podcasts where the audio level is a bit too low in some sections. To my knowledge, Antennapod does not have this. I've been using it for over a year now.
- kasabali 4y ago
  Is it a simple boost or is it dynamic range compression? If the latter I might be interested.
  - gtirloni 4y ago
    https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android/search?q=boost&type= https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android/search?q=...
- fbdab103 4y ago
  This is amusing to me, as my perpetual problem with phone audio is that everything is too loud. I am repeatedly tapping between the lowest tick and full mute, because I am already at the bottom of the standard curve.
  - KingJulian 4y ago
    I see. It's the opposite for me. I listen to podcasts during long drives. The background noise tends to drown out the audio quite a bit.
- infamia 4y ago
  AntennaPod has a volume reduction setting that is per podcast which solves the same problem, but from the opposite side if the spectrum. All of the podcasts that I subscribe to that have poor volume levels are all too loud. I'm sure there are lots of others that are too low though.

ganesh7 4y ago

stavros 4y ago

This is great news, I love Pocket Casts. Unfortunately, with Spotify acquiring Gimlet, a good chunk of good podcasts has become paywalled, and can't be listened to with any player. On top of that, Spotify absolutely sucks for podcasts, I can never find what I've listened to and what I haven't.

simoneau 4y ago
I have a moment of morning when a podcast I love disappears behind a firewall, most recently Heavyweight. Then I remember there are tons of other great podcasts out there I’ve never even tried and move on with my life.
- trts 4y ago
  Heavyweight though sadly is in a league of its own. The double insult is that if you pay for Spotify you still get ads.

neverrroot 4y ago

Hope someone can add a feature for recording snippets, and maybe even one for bookmarks with notes. One of the hardest things to keep track of, getting back to the interesting pieces of a podcast. Every episode I listen to has something worth remembering, right now managing that is truly cumbersome / time consuming.

skinnymuch 4y ago
Airr.io and Snipd.com do the note taking. Both also do the snippets part.
glenstein 4y ago
I believe Podverse does that. It's an F-Droid podcast app with a paid subscription. I don't love it overall but like you I believe clips are a good feature.
heliostatic 4y ago
I'm a happy pocketcasts user, but started also using Snipd for that very reason. https://www.snipd.com/ https://www.snipd.com/
scarface74 4y ago
Overcast for iOS added that feature a couple of years ago. Marco Arment (Tumblr cofounder , Instapaper) is the author
hackeraccount 4y ago
I either want pocketcast to get a snippet type feature on snipd/overcast to have a web client. One or the other isn't too much to ask I think.

RefSnow 4y ago

I've been a user for years, and I have nothing to complain about. I hope they evolve even more.

IndrekR 4y ago

Previous post on the same news with more comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33269858 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33269858

Thlom 4y ago

Best part of PocketCast is the stats. It can tell me that since 2016 I've listened to 135 days worth of podcasts and apparently I've "saved" 46 days by increasing the playback speed and 3 days from trimming silence. (I also have 350 hours in my "up next" queue ...)

hairofadog 4y ago
I like Pocket Casts and I’m not knocking the fact that they have them or that other people like them, but stats like these make me feel existential dread.
- myko 4y ago
  That's so interesting, I never considered it but think I understand how you feel. I've always wanted more stats like this. I expected/hoped Google Play Music (and now the inferior YouTube Music) would provide amazing overviews of what you listen to. I wish I had stats on the music I listened to in WinAmp in the 90s and a way to see the change in my musical tastes (and the consistent threads through the years). I bet I could track relationships very easily by the playlists I listened to.
  - Thlom 4y ago
    I used last.fm back in the early 00’s. I don’t think it logged playlists, but it did log every song you listened to. It kind of faded away when streaming services took over which he no or variable support for last.fm.
    - crossroadsguy 4y ago
      https://listenbrainz.org/user/<musicbrainz https://listenbrainz.org/user/<musicbrainz user id>/ is what I have used and it has been pretty good so far.
- gernb 4y ago
  yea... reminds me of seeing the number of hours a friend had put into EverQuest. I'm sure I'd be appalled at many of my own stats for my own activities

lucasfcosta 4y ago

I quite like Pocket Casts, and I think that's the right move for them. I really hope folks don't entirely move to Spotify and their proprietary app and protocols.

nxte 4y ago
Unless Spotify adds support for adding podcasts via RSS Feed URL, I don't think there will be major risk of a large scale move.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  I imagine very few people care about that. I can’t remember the last time I had to paste in a podcast url anywhere. I just search for a podcast in-app and click “Subscribe”.
  - nxte 4y ago
    Most of my subscriptions are like that too. But there are a few creators who I support on Patreon, and they provide special feeds with extra content, etc. These paid subscriptions are a small % of my overall lineup, but not coincidentally, they're my "essentials". I don't think I'm alone!
  - doublepg23 4y ago
    Paid subscription podcasts are very popular nowadays. It’s essential to add your paid RSS feed to an app.
    - hombre_fatal 4y ago
      Good point.

voxadam 4y ago

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33269858 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33269858

say_it_as_it_is 4y ago

Java..

niklaslogren 4y ago

Pretty off-topic, but: > I hope that Pocket Casts can do for podcast clients what Firefox in the early days and Chromium now does for browsers — push the state of the art, be manically focused on user control, and grow a more decentralized and open web. It's pretty funny to see the claim that Chromium is "manically focused on user control" and "is growing a more decentralised and open web" :-)

Barrin92 4y ago
it's true though isn't it? Some people keep complaining about chromium related apps, but from different browsers to electron based apps it has without a doubt pushed open source like almost nothing else, it's sort of the OS of the web.
- simjnd 4y ago
  The OS of the web crippling extensions and plugins because it hurts its ad-business is not what I would call "being focused on user-control". They're focused on control, yes, but not in our favour.
  - izacus 4y ago
    Users of Chromium have announced that they will reenable those extensions and plugins - so what, exactly, is the problem there? This is opensource working as intended - someone else can build it with feature set you want.
    - simjnd 4y ago
      The problem is that OP used Chromium as an example of a project "focused on user control" when in fact it is actively trying to remove control from the users's hands. I was citing extensions and Manifest v3 as an example of that, I don't care about the feature and what people can do to go around this.
- turminal 4y ago
  It's an OS for the web, but the web is increasingly in control of the same entity that controls chromium. And chromium helped them a lot in getting that much power over the web. I don't think that qualifies as improving openness or user control.

mxstbr 4y ago

Who is making “Discover Weekly” for podcast episodes? I want personalized episode recommendations based on past listening behavior; I don't have time to dig through 30 podcast feeds to find an episode that interests me, which is why I usually only listen to specific episodes that friends recommend. I bet recommendations across all podcasts (not just ones I know of) that match my interests to others with the same listening behavior would massively increase the amount of time I spend listening to podcasts.

h3mb3 4y ago
Well, Spotify does some of that as far as I know. But I'd never switch to playing my podcasts there just out of principle (even though I pay the subscription too) because I don't like how they are trying to build a walled garden for podcasts and kill RSS as a thing.
- alias_neo 4y ago
  Is ad-segment or sponsor-segment free podcasts a thing? I too pay for Spotify and I tried to get into some podcasts, starting with Darknet Diaries, but the ad and sponsor segments are just too jarring. I guess I'm not paying enough in my Spotify subscription to get it without that stuff, so who/what/where do I pay to get some podcasts I want to listen to without it?
  - h3mb3 4y ago
    I think most podcasts post the exact same episodes to all popular platforms. Some may have an ad-free version on Patreon. With Spotify, it's sort of similar to when the paid YouTube (Red/Premium) became a thing. Yea, you'd get rid of the Google-picked ads, but the in-video sponsored ads added by the video creator would still obviously remain.
  - c0wb0yc0d3r 4y ago
    Yes, but that sort of thing isn't included as part of a normal Spotify subscription. It looks like Spotify has support for podcasts subscriptions, but it's all on a one off basis as far as I can tell. Out of the podcasts I listen to, I'm not sure a single one uses Spotify for subscriptions. Commonly it seems to be Patreon. With all of that being said, many quality podcasts have jarring ad segments on purpose. Partly it serves as an ad for the ad-free feed but they also serve as a way to inform the listener that the following words aren't the podcasters' own and they were paid for an endorsement.

mcfedr 4y ago

A couple of years ago I downloaded every podcast app I could find to try them, and landed on pocket casts, I've found it the best organised for how I want to listen, and this is great news on top of that! Now I can finally see about making a PR to show buffering status

mellosouls 4y ago

Is this fully open-source, or just the clients? eg. can you use them with out any interaction with the pocket cast server, and subscribe to podcasts using open/other feeds?

zdunn 4y ago
The repos they linked are just for the clients. I think the server software would be way more interesting, but it's also their secret sauce so it unlikely they'll open source that. I'm with you that allowing the clients to connect to a different sync server (gpodder, etc) would be a great feature. Though, again, I don't see that happening because it would cut into their subscription service.
- mellosouls 4y ago
  Hmmm, if that's the case, then except for those who don't mind being locked in, its not clear what the motivation is to contribute. Though I suppose if there is enough benefit to the free product (I'm not that familiar with it) - and confidence it will remain free - that might be a draw. Perhaps there is also potential for it to be forked for a genuinely open service - I'm just a bit sceptical about "open source" that doesn't keep the implied convention to be fully independent, but perhaps that's unfair or unrealistic here.

chiefalchemist 4y ago

> The team has been working really hard to make those clients totally open source... I wish he would have expanded on this, or at least link to something that did. It would be interesting to understand what a transition like that entails, what they did, why, etc. I would have preferred this over the backhand swipe at Mozilla.

wwarner 4y ago

This is great news. Long live shiftyjelly!

adwi 4y ago

Adblock plug-in?

syklep 4y ago
SponsorBlock maybe https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android/issues/466 https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android/issues/46...

JamesonNetworks 4y ago

Not to hijack the thread to advertise, but if you are looking for a one off fee podcast player, I've been using iCatcher and I really like the experience. One time fee for the app, and I really hope it stays that way. Developer is responsive and the app is really solid.

mastax 4y ago

Has anyone else had issues with audio jumping forward/backward while playing episodes? I think it has to do with dynamically inserted ads causing a different version of the file to be served. As pocket casts streams by sending a range request it gets different positions in the file due to different length ads or VBR.

kossTKR 4y ago
Yes i’ve experienced the same thing exactly as you describe.

gernb 4y ago

I just went to check it on the iPhone App store. I know that ratings might not mean anything? but, I noticed it was rated 3.9 of 5 stars vs several other podcasts with up to 6x to 90x more votes and 4.5 to 5 stars. Is it just a popularity contest or are those other apps better? Podcast App (4.8, 228k votes) Google Podcasts (4.7, 10k votes) Overcast (4.7, 33k votes) Podcast Player - Castbox (4.8, 98k votes) Pocket Casts (3.9, 2.8k votes) Stitcher (4.8, 4.7k votes) Discounting the apple podcast app (4.9, 973k votes) since it's built in and therefore has an unfair advantage. Might explain why it was sold if it was clear it wasn't winning. I certainly like the idea of a player that doesn't report to someone my interests.

ESMirro 4y ago
A decent portion of those negative reviews stem from various controversies the app has gone through over the years combined with a passionate and easily angered user base. The main two being: - The 7.0 UI update in which certain features such as playlists were removed & the UX streamlined. - The move from a paid app to free with subscription. It’s an excellent app for the most part, certainly on par with others in that list.
samatman 4y ago
App developers love to pop up a 'nudge' to rate the app, because they know people are nice, and also, they want the fsking popup to go away, so people know that 1-5 stars is the only way to dismiss it and go with 5. An open-source app will have... passionate users. Great way to shoot ourselves in the foot here.
benhurmarcel 4y ago
It might have something to do with brigading back when they pissed off existing users by switching to a subscription. https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/20873611/pocket-casts-plus-premium-web-desktop-apps-changes-rollback https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/20873611/pocket-casts-plu...

fomine3 4y ago

I miss speed control per podcast feature on Pocket Casts. IIRC the feature was removed. Hopefully someone add it.