Any suggestions on good multi-platform alternatives? I’m using Apple Podcasts and it’s garbage.
For Android users and FOSS enthusiasts, AntennaPod is pretty great.
Man I’m glad I got grandfathered in to their lifetime license, that’s really expensive
I am too, but this makes me worry about how long that will last. Once they start needing money bad enough, they’ll be eyeing us.
Yeah :( I’d probably go the selfhosted route if I can find a good bit of software to use for it, or just use RSS if that happens
I wish plex would bring back plugin support. If my podcasts and audiobooks could live there easily I’d open their app a lot more. Maybe watch some of those old TV and movies they’re so excited about.
I guess I gotta start looking at self-hosted aggregator solutions. I hope one of them has per-podcast playback speed settings/autoskip capabilities. I use the heck out of those.
Yeah I was looking at a few options. A few people recommended Audiobookshelf. I tried out airsonic-advanced and it has decent podcast support but the software itself feels a bit outdated, but it works
The iOS app is still in beta, but it works well enough. It’s not as advanced as the other options available, but it has the basic features, and is nice that it’s self-hosted, so I can store the mp3 files on my own system.
I’m in it until this happens.
I bought the iOS app. They I switched to Android and bought it again. Then I got back into iOS, and bought it in my new apple account. Then they said they needed money and that they had a web app and a desktop app (electron) so I bought that again.
I recommended Pocket Casts to friends, family, randos on the internet, people on the street, and everyone that would listen to me.
And then they launched plus, made the phone apps free (100% ok with that, I had my moneys worth) and tried to weasel out of the lifetime of webapp they sold me. They tried to give me 3 years of plus.
We really cried and nagged them on Reddit an Twitter. Most of us could not care less about the cloud storage. We just wanted the webapp we paid for, without a time limit. And in the end they gave up and just grandfathered us all.
But I never recomendad pocket casts again. Never again went out of my way to talk about the app to anyone.
Interesting feedback
I’ve been using pocket casts for a while now, but never got the plus. The free version seems to have everything I need. What’s the most useful plus feature?
Been using it for a few years without paying, never felt the need.
It looks like their paid plan adds cross-platform (including desktop) syncing, folders, some cloud storage for uploading files, a watch app, and some more themes.
Overcast for iOS is very good, has a fully free tier and it is cheap to support if you want to.
I cannot stand the re-design of Overcast. It looks so cartoonish, and the app feels very dated to me. I switched to Pocket Casts, because their CarPlay app was much more stable, but now I may have to look at options again.
Seconding Overcast. It has a lot of feature comforts, a great Watch app, and has been continuously updated. Marco Arment is the dev and the effort he puts into the app truly shows.
Years ago I bought the app for android, iPhone, and web because for work I needed it on different devices. When they changed the pricing model I got a email saying because of my support and having paid them that many times, I was given lifetime premium for free. They were owned by a different company back then, but I really appreciated the move and have it to this day.
Can’t comment for iOS but I use Podcast Addict for android.
I really like antennapod. It works really well for all of my podcasts.
I’m migrating from Pocketcasts and Audible to a self-hosted Audiobookshelf instance. It’s got all the audiobook features I would want, but the podcast features are not quite there yet. The two big ones that I miss from Pocketcasts are an automated “up next” playlist and auto-downloading new episodes to the phone. That being said, there is active development and new features and bugfixes come out regularly. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had feature-parity with Pocketcasts within the year. I know self-hosting isn’t for everyone, but if you’re interested in playing around with something like that, audiobookshelf is a good place to start.
I haven’t gotten any sort of notification about this and I use the app every day. I would hope they say something directly to users through the app and not just do it.
I wasn’t even aware they had a premium version, I just use the app without even signing in.
Sounds like this is more for people that want to use it cross-platform and also use it on their PC etc.
I’m using Podcast Guru and I find it very nice. it’s free and quite powerful.
I started using podcast republic recently. They also have a web version but I use Android. Seems decent so far.
If you are already a subscriber it stays at 14.99. Its a glitch. You’re grandfathered to existing cost
But. If you are a new subscriber then yea you’re screwed.
I use pocket casts since years. Never felt like needing the plus. Just checked the benefits and I think I am still good. Before a flight I download dozens of podcast to my phone via WiFi and use the list of downloaded podcasts to keep track of them.
I see no need for the following features for me:
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Folders Organize your podcasts in folders, and keep them synced across devices.
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Desktop Apps Take your podcasts to more places with our Windows, macOS and Web apps.
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Cloud Storage Speed up your lectures. Burn through other content. Be your own Podcast DJ.
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Watch Playback Ditch the phone and go for a run – without missing a beat. Apple Watch stands alone
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Themes & Icons Fly your true colors. Exclusive icons and themes for the plus club only.
For their benefit, I didn’t even realize there was a premium version until now.
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This is a bummer because PocketCasts was my go-to for a long time. The Stitcher for Podcasts app might be a good option. I’ve heard positive mention of it, and it has a 4.8 on the App Store.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems like Stitcher is being shut down in August
Oof. Good to know!
