[crispinb]

Fair point on the group purchase. It still puts the app largely in the hands of content producers, which is a potential conflict of interest.

> I also wouldn't call NPR's app spyware by any means unless you call the vast majority of apps and websites spyware too

The 'Spywareness' that matters is relative: it's not so much a matter of whether information is collected at all, but rather how much & what information, in what form, for what purpose, and who gets access. The move from an indy content-neutral app to one owned by content providers changes the incentives significantly.

We don't know what will happen, so let's face it, anything we write is just speculation. But it would hardly be unduly cynical to suspect the direction to be towards more surveillance, and less support for the openness of podcasting.

[selectodude]

Its an app that downloads mp3 files off the internet. There’s not a whole lot of secret sauce there. There are dozens of other apps that you can use if Pocket Casts doesn’t suit you any longer.

[crispinb]

That’s what it does now, yes, because it’s a good citizen in the open standards podcasting ecosystem. I hope it remains so.

As for other apps, I haven’t found anything that suits me as well. PC has a decent UI, is user (as opposed to publisher/advertiser) focused, and syncs between all my devices. It’s a truly great indie app. Rarely are such things improved by acquisition.