[robinhood]

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.

[newen]

The NPR One app does collect statistics such as when do user start and stop podcasts etc. I remember them mentioning the app in a couple of their podcasts and how they use that data to improve their podcasts. It's very likely that they will use Pocket casts for that purpose and it's probably why they bought Pocketcasts, since so few people use the NPR One app.

[zbrozek]

And this is precisely why I find this news unpleasant. Now I'll need to find another podcast app.

[jrwiegand]

The notion is valid but users clearly don't want to be tracked. NPR One lost and they still continue to push it and will likely convert Pocket Casts. I find the news discouraging at best.

[rtpg]

"clearly don't want to be tracked" is probably relative.

To be honest I would totally be cool with letting podcast producers know when I play a thing and pausing and whatnot. I think it might be useful to them for improving things and making stuff be better cut.

The counterpoint is that this stuff would probably also be used for ads. But there's already ads in the podcasts? I'm pretty desensitized to targeted ads at this point...

[midasz]

Podcast Addict (android only i think) has always been my go-to app. Even paid for 'donate' version even though it doesn't really do anything extra I think. Really recommend it to anyone who wants to try something else.

[starik36]

I'd give Downcast a shot. It's been my go to podcasting app for years and it's regularly updated. It has never asked me login or any other information. It's not a silo either: you can import and export podcasts lists.

[unethical_ban]

Podcast Republic for Android is really great.