Agreed; that's what keeps me hopeful here too. Looking at my podcast player, I don't think there's any single podcast that I would download a new app for, if they tried this. So hopefully at least for the type of podcasts I listen to, this wouldn't be a winning move.
I think there is plenty of room for multiple podcast apps to do well, even with Apple's version present. Podcasts really do make up an important part of many people's day (not unlike an audiobook, or NPR, H. Stern, Rush, etc.), and the way people want to consume and manage podcasts varies substantially and that opens up possibilities for multiple apps.
I don't even see it as that far-fetched to imagine this addition helping 3rd party apps. Say Average Joe doesn't even know what a podcast is, but the Apple app is interesting enough that he tries it/them out and suddenly "podcast" is on his radar. He is now a new potential customer for a 3rd party app that has a feature he'd like but is missing from the Apple app.
Worse, if I download podcasts on the phone from e.g. iTunes U, they tend to get removed when I sync. I like a lot of what iTunes does but the implementation (especially on Windows) has always been touch-and-go. I'm honestly not sure what their motivation would be to improve the product other than to add more potential revenue streams, but I'm glad that they may be trying.
Podcast Addict is my favorite podcast app. I have been using it with great satisfaction for years. I hope that gets sorted out quickly.
Another aspect that I don't quite understand: The story claims that Google asks for the app to be published as a new download. And indeed the provided screenshot includes this request (in pretty small print). This makes no sense to me. Why wouldn't Google be satisfied by just changing the existing app? Any ideas what the reason might be?
I think I've tested all the major podcasts app out there, paid for their subscriptions etc... The one that was clearly over the others has always been Pocket Casts. I'm also a subscriber of https://play.pocketcasts.com, their web platform. I just love them. I'm really happy that they've made the money they deserve (or I hope they did anyway).
That being said, I don't feel confident at all that NPR will now respect my privacy as much as Pocket Cast, the company. I'm really scared that NPR will change the app like all those media companies do when they acquire something good - that is transforming the tool into an ad machine, or at the minimum something to track users.
Despite the blog post where they announce that nothing will change, I hope Pocket cast's team will continue their good work and resist the pressure of a media company.
That app is more about listening to your local station or catching up on the news of the day than listening to podcasts. NPR and their affiliate stations only makes sense for that, I wouldn't worry that their goal is an NPR only podcast app.
I understand why Apple felt the need to create this app. The current method of managing and listening to podcasts is split between iTunes and the Music app, and holds on to old models of syncing between the computer and the iPhone / iPod. It's a mess, and that, of course, is why there are third-party apps that have been doing a better job for podcast enthusiasts.
Unfortunately, this is bad news for the makers of the third-party apps. My personal favorite is Pocket Casts. They put a lot of work into creating a great user experience for podcast listeners, which seems to have been replicated in some ways in Apple's "official" podcast app. (I'm not saying Apple copied them, just that some of their UX conventions also exist in the Podcasts app.)
As I say, Apple did need to fix the current way podcasts are handled in iOS. Overall, it's probably going to be a good thing for podcasters, as it will make it easier for the average consumer to subscribe and consume podcasts.
It just makes me feel bad for the app developers who have gone through so much work to create excellent products, only to see their role shoved out of the way as Apple integrates this new feature into iOS. It's an old story; Apple's been doing this sort of thing on the Mac for ages (remember Coverflow?), but it still gets to me a bit. I'll keep using and loving Pocket Casts, I just hope they and others can compete now that Apple's got their own Podcasts app.
Excellent news. I don't need to find a new Podcast app :).
It was fairly obvious things would come to this. Either accept major user backlash, or provide lifetime. I'm glad they made the right choice, I just wish they hadn't stumbled first. They got some unnecessary bad press.
Yea it's been my favorite podcasting app since i found it. So glad it's NPR and such that acquired it and not a company that's going to fill it with ads (the main reason i stopped using any other apps).
I really wish they'd compete by just making the Podcasts app not a pile of shit.
It routinely doesn't sync where I am between devices and never works correctly on my HomePod. Adding old episodes on one device won't add it anywhere else. The Apple TV version simply doesn't have the ability to add episodes to your library. The less said about iTunes' podcast functionality the better.
I know they're porting the iOS Podcasts app to Mac for the next version so there's some hope.. maybe.
I don't know how a new podcasting app would work in today's market. It would be competing against entrenched products on the high-end side, and a free offering from Apple on the low-end side. And it doesn't have any recurring revenue, which is not great.
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