![]() ![]() According to Google, “a few factors, such as your listening habits and the podcasts you subscribe to.” That means, theoretically, that it continues to get better the more shows you listen to and subscribe - and the more others use it, as well. ![]() Once you start subscribing to shows, however, the home page shifts accordingly. You know the deal - if your parent who’s never listened to a podcast has brought it up in casual conversation, it’s probably in there. You’ve got all of the usual “top podcast” subjects in there - This American Life, Radiolab, Serial. The page that greets you is fairly generic. Of course, the first time you log into the app, Google’s recommendations are anything but. Certainly it stands to reason that recommendations ought to be tailored to listeners in a way that respects that relationship. But podcasting is among the most intimate forms of communication - a proxy for a close conversation with friends. That manner of curation generally does a good job assuring that featured shows adhere to a certain expectation of quality. That’s all well and good for first-time listeners. And the algorithms that control the top podcast lists are anyone’s guess. Publishers like NPR or ESPN tend to get preferential treatment. In the case of the iOS podcast app, that generally means that the most popular programs are pushed to the top. In recent years, Cupertino has pushed toward curation, hiring editors to determine which properties to promote in its various channels. With that in mind, the app’s discovery mechanism is framed differently than Apple’s. The new app’s mission statement is, fittingly, to “make it really easier for them to discover and listen to the podcasts they love.” The category is undeniably in the midst of a renaissance, making it one of the most exciting entertainment and informational mediums in the world today.Īnd with its longtime goal of “organizing the world’s information,” certainly Google is well-positioned to provide a unique service for the 500,000+ active podcasts out there. I never really got a great answer on that front, but a rep told me the company was driven to create the new standalone app thanks to the “explosion of creativity” that’s occurred in the past few years. ![]() I asked Google why it was so late to the draw in terms of fully embracing the medium. The company just dropped the simply titled “Podcasts.” It’s exactly what you’d expect from Google - a straightforward listening and browsing experience that prioritizes discovery above all else. For whatever reason, Google has seemed content to let the competition own the category. There are plenty of solutions out there, of course - Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts - seemingly as many as there are podcasts. At best, Google has reluctantly embraced the form, incorporating podcasts into the broader scope of Play, leading many of Android’s billions of users to rely on third-party solutions. Hell, even the format’s name betrays its close tie to the company’s once ubiquitous player. Those of us using Tidal, for example, will not pay for Spotify on top of it just for podcasts.Apple has essentially owned podcasts since their inception. The lack of support for the OS, or easy and heavily requested functions, feels like the OS is going under, anyways, with barebones resources allocated to it.Īnd no, Spotify is not a valid option for podcasts. ![]() As soon as I have some spare time I will be researching another ecosystem and will have to sell out of NAD and BluOS. Dare I say, one of the main reasons we even get network-connected audio equipment.Īs time goes by, we're all forced to make compromises, diluting a lot of what we paid this system for. We have to shut off the entire unit now, foregoing the standby function to turn it on with our phones whenever we want, wherever we are, in the house. There is no option to force a pin for pairing. Where this becomes even more egregious, is that you have zero security over Bluetooth connections. Well, I'm willing to bet most of us here ONLY EVER use Bluetooth to get our podcasts on the device. In any case, what does it have to do with a podcast service? The man has issues, I don't want to listen to his conspiracy crap. Turns out my neighbour, who regularly stays up all night, was probably too drunk to figure out his Amazon Echo Dot was broadcasting via Bluetooth on my unit. Last night, around 2:30 AM, my unit turned on and started streaming iHeart radio.įreaked the crap out of everyone in the house. ![]()
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