4 ms·

I deliberately don't use any of Apple's services, even though I own an iPhone. The only thing I use is the App Store, and even then I'm a minimalist as to what

by vmoore 4y ago

I deliberately don't use any of Apple's services, even though I own an iPhone. The only thing I use is the App Store, and even then I'm a minimalist as to what I install. If I want to listen to podcasts, I use the VLC Player app, and grab the podcast from the Podcast's official site, and then use iTunes to transfer the .MP3 to VLC, over USB. Cause I'm oldskool like that. If the podcast in question doesn't have a site where I can download episodes at my leisure, I send a friendly e-mail to the podcast asking them to provide downloadable MP3s so I can avoid the vendor lock-in of Apple and other companies (who also build a profile of your listening habits, because they chant they need it for 'improvements to our service').

harshitaneja 4y ago
I appreciate the sentiment of not wanting to give into vendor lock-in for convenience but why manually download podcasts and go through the whole process when you can use RSS and ask podcasters to keep supporting RSS feeds? You get good ergonomics while still keeping the process decentralized and without vendor lock-ins?
- EvanAnderson 4y ago
  I agree-- RSS feeds are wonderful. I just wish more podcasts kept a complete feed. I'm a "completionist" and it turns me off when I have to scrape episode archive pages to get download links for past episodes that have dropped off the RSS feed. That's the biggest barrier for me to start listening to a new podcast. I own an iPhone but also don't use Apple's built-in functionality unless the feature supports standards-based services can self-host (CalDAV, IMAP, etc). I pull podcasts into my forked version of tt-rss[0] and use a script to pull down the enclosures onto my local webserver. I play the episodes using Safari (which, admittedly, is a sub-optimal experience) on my iPhone. (In my dreams I'd write an HTML5 front-end to play episodes, mark them to retain after listening, keep bookmarks, etc...) [0] https://tt-rss.org/ https://tt-rss.org/
  - harshitaneja 4y ago
    I feel you. Even though I am more okay with the transience of the feeds. I have a similar setup but running on my cloud VM and using my custom scripts and apps. I have built a CLI client but not gotten around to mobile apps yet. Hope to finish work on a proper self hosted server and a suite of applications for desktop and mobile for the same and open source it.
nofreelunch 4y ago
That is so much work to go through when you could just buy an android instead of an iphone! I don't see how this could possibly provide you any benefit besides some sort of glib satisfaction. You don't want to support apple but still give them money to use their devices.
greedo 4y ago
You do realize that most podcasts are MP3s that you can download, and that podcasting uses RSS to notify clients? The way you're doing it is worse than the way Stallman reads email...
_Algernon_ 4y ago
Using iTunes to move files is just as much "using Apple services" as just using Apple's podcast app. All you have accomplished is making life harder for yourself.

by vmoore 4y ago

harshitaneja 4y ago

I appreciate the sentiment of not wanting to give into vendor lock-in for convenience but why manually download podcasts and go through the whole process when you can use RSS and ask podcasters to keep supporting RSS feeds? You get good ergonomics while still keeping the process decentralized and without vendor lock-ins?

EvanAnderson 4y ago
I agree-- RSS feeds are wonderful. I just wish more podcasts kept a complete feed. I'm a "completionist" and it turns me off when I have to scrape episode archive pages to get download links for past episodes that have dropped off the RSS feed. That's the biggest barrier for me to start listening to a new podcast. I own an iPhone but also don't use Apple's built-in functionality unless the feature supports standards-based services can self-host (CalDAV, IMAP, etc). I pull podcasts into my forked version of tt-rss[0] and use a script to pull down the enclosures onto my local webserver. I play the episodes using Safari (which, admittedly, is a sub-optimal experience) on my iPhone. (In my dreams I'd write an HTML5 front-end to play episodes, mark them to retain after listening, keep bookmarks, etc...) [0] https://tt-rss.org/ https://tt-rss.org/
- harshitaneja 4y ago
  I feel you. Even though I am more okay with the transience of the feeds. I have a similar setup but running on my cloud VM and using my custom scripts and apps. I have built a CLI client but not gotten around to mobile apps yet. Hope to finish work on a proper self hosted server and a suite of applications for desktop and mobile for the same and open source it.

nofreelunch 4y ago

That is so much work to go through when you could just buy an android instead of an iphone! I don't see how this could possibly provide you any benefit besides some sort of glib satisfaction. You don't want to support apple but still give them money to use their devices.

greedo 4y ago

You do realize that most podcasts are MP3s that you can download, and that podcasting uses RSS to notify clients? The way you're doing it is worse than the way Stallman reads email...

_Algernon_ 4y ago

Using iTunes to move files is just as much "using Apple services" as just using Apple's podcast app. All you have accomplished is making life harder for yourself.