Random Questions

I use the built in app. It works.

I use Downcast. Much nicer than the bare-bones built-in app. One thing I like about it is that it supports gestures for fast forward, mark as played, etc. It can be useful if you listen to your podcasts while driving as it lets you control things without having to look at the screen.

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Pretty sure that’s what Siri is for?

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Siri requires a network connection, which isn’t always 100% reliable.

Also, I’m not sure Siri does 30 second skips (forward and back) and a few other nice gesture features. Some of the podcasts I listen to have ads, and others have segments where I may not be interested in what they’re discussing at the moment, but I may want to listen to the next segment.

Also, Downcast lets you create playlists, which is also nice as I like to listen to my podcasts in a particular order. Last I checked, the built-in app doesn’t do playlists, but it’s been a while (I’ve been using Downcast for several years now).

There are a few other nice features I like in the Downcast app that I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I admit I’m a bit of a podcast power user. For lots of folks, the built-in app probably is just fine.

Dang you must be listening to many many podcasts to need playlists for them. I can’t even finish one podcast in one subway ride. Never gonna need a playlist for them. Also, not driving, I can just choose the next podcast by hand. And I can skip 30 seconds of podcast on my watch.

There’s a thread here on the forum called How do you listen to GeekNights? where people have talked about podcast apps and recommendations.

I use Overcast, and it’s great. It’s like the perfect app for me now, because all of my issues with it over the years have been solved, one by one. It just keeps getting better, so I don’t even mind paying the $10 per year subscription so it doesn’t show ads. I follow the developer account on Twitter, and plugged away at a few small issues over the years, like having a dedicated panel for podcast chapter selection, and every problem so far has been solved (even if not in the way I suggest).

The playlist stuff is good, but now that is bare minimum table stakes for a podcast app. The latest big improvement to Overcast is the search functionality. It used to be useable, but quite slow. Now it has google-style auto-suggestions. It’s so quick it feels like magic, and gets the most obvious result examples for you before you expect.

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Holy shit how many podcasts are people listening to that a search is necessary?

This is the search to add new podcasts. For example, on a podcast someone says “I was a guest on this show… go listen to that episode!” and I would like to. Instant search makes that super easy.

Many of us have commutes that take enough time to get through a podcast and a half in just one direction the commute, like me in Portland, OR.

As for my preferred podcast app, that’s still Pocket Casts. I like it’s functionality, like adding to playlists automatically with the option to set for it to be added to end or up next. Additionally, the app has the option to sync online so if you lose or break your phone it will still have your podcasts and where you were in them when you load the app onto a new device. That setting is more common now but when Pocket Casts came out it was a noteworthy feature. It’s also got similar search functionality to Overcast.

I was like that until I moved to the city.

When I commuted via car in the old days, I listened to so many podcasts it was insane.

Apple official podcast app has that, though I don’t use it. No idea how good it is. As I said, how often am I adding new podcasts? I delete podcasts much more often than I seek them out.

Right. All these features are unique to one podcast app or another when they first come out. A year later they should be just about standard in all these same apps. From there it’s just about what app suits you the most in the layout and default use cases.

Current Podcast count: 58

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Holy Fuck. My current count is maybe 3 and change.

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I’ve got 0 because I’m all books on tape lately. I’ll still listen to individual episodes podcasts I come across via whatever means if the topic sounds right, but usually right then and there.

I listen to four currently. One of those is GeekNights. :wink:

There are more, but they update… infrequently.

I do… and I also have a backlog for various reasons… I also listen to them at 1.5 speed. I tend to like to listen to podcasts not only on my commute, but while doing household chores as well.

I don’t own an Apple Watch (or any other smart watch) and, well, skipping 30 seconds at time via my watch isn’t worth $300-$400 to when my podcast app costs $3.

And yes, I’ve looked at getting a smart watch and found that they just don’t offer enough utility to me to be worth paying a few hundred bucks for.

Unless the podcast contains music my normal rate of listening to podcasts is 2.6x speed.

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I ask Siri to “rewind 30 seconds” and “fast forward one minute” all the time.

Good to know, but I’ve had Siri flake out enough on me, especially when in “Do not disturb while driving” mode, that I don’t trust it to be reliable.