[pentagrama]

I really like the simplicity of Google Podcasts, it does one thing and pretty well.

I'm also a Spotify user and despise have podcasts mixed with music, so bloated and clunky (also Spotify performance isn't good), music and podcasts are different usecases for me, I'm on different mood.

I don't want to jump to YouTube Music, and the last time I did a research, I can't find a simple Podcast app that is free, simple, ad-free, and has desktop web+native phone app support like Google Podcasts.

I guess I have to have to pay _other_ subscription now :/. Will try YouTube Music but I'm quite sure will not like it.

Note aside: I have YouTube Premium subscription for the ad-free experience, and has YouTube Music included, but to listen to music I prefer Spotify Premium _only_ because has a desktop app, I just can't have Spotify on my browser tabs, and since I use Firefox I can't install the pwa-webapp. If I can have installed the desktop app/pwa-webapp I'm sure I will dich Spotify for sure. Sorry for the unrelated rant but I just remember that.

[jaderobbins1]

I think the point about separation of Music and Podcasts is an important one for me as well.

I really don't like mixing the two, they have two different use cases imo. Drives me nuts how much Spotify pushes podcasts when I just want to listen to some tunes.

[KoolKat23]

I once tapped on a podcast link that someone sent me that opened in Spotify. I was haunted by podcast recommendations for months, if not years afterwards. I honestly wouldn't care if there was a completely separate tab in the app that didn't influence recommendations.

[grvdrm]

I’ve suffered through it just like you. I recently reinstalled Overcast after using Castro for quite a while. But, I’m still not completely satisfied with any of these apps.

[danhodgins]

I actually prefer that Spotify have both podcasts and music in their app. I would be more annoyed if I had to use a separate app for the two use cases. In my view, both are audio entertainment, so it makes sense. I can see how this would annoy some people though.

[xp84]

Spotify thinks if they can get you into Podcasts, which they don’t have to pay a dime for, it will improve their bottom line, since you (probably) can’t simultaneously listen to music that they do have to pay for. Kind of a funny motivation to enter the podcast market, but probably a good business move, as awkward and annoying, and seemingly irrelevant to their brand and core competency as it is.

[chatmasta]

That's a fascinating way of looking at it that I've never thought about before. So basically Spotify is considering cost per minute of music vs. podcasts? That's a believable explanation for the counterintuitively high price they paid for acquiring popular podcasts like Joe Rogan (which they know loyal viewers users will reliably watch for hours each week, during which time they won't be streaming Taylor Swift songs on repeat).

It's also interesting because the normal optimizations like caching don't apply to licensing fees. At first I was going to suggest that they can cache frequently played songs to save cost, but then I realized that has no impact on royalty fees derived from playtime.

[phito]

You realise that wanting a free and ad-free player will always lead you to this? Why not just pay for a good podcast app?

[runamok]

Any suggestions?

[etc-hosts]

Podcast Addict

[xp84]

Minor question: Why not use the PWA using a different browser engine? Since it’s in its own window anyway. I hear Safari is gaining them this year though I never touch Safari. Edge has it, and Chromium probably does right?

I wholly agree however, that mixing music and podcasts in one app is stupid though!

If by any chance you’re an Apple person, I’d recommend Overcast. It’s a measly $10 or so per year for ad-free but really, anything free is going to either have ads or be tied to some annoying larger monetization strategy like Apple or Google have. So I don’t think it’s worth putting “free” in your criteria.

[pentagrama]

Sure, I can answer your question :) Tes, I tried to use YouTube Music with Chrome since it supports PWA installation, but it wasn't a good experience, the browser get synced with my Google Account and I don't like it, also my keyboard keys to change volume and tracks didn't work (with the Spotify app they work), maybe now they work, I know that PWA support in Chromium was pushed and evolving a lot recently.

Maybe I should try other chromium-based browser just for that, but also don't feel to have logged in my Google Account in other browser (if YTM has a desktop native app will be similar haha but IDK), hope Firefox desktop at some point support PWA installations. And maybe I'm old, but for products that I interact all day (spotify, figma, slack) I just like native desktop apps detached from browsers, even if they are Electron apps which are essentially a webapp wrapper.

About the Overcast suggestion, I'm a Windows/Ubuntu/Android person, I guess Overcast isn't for me, but I'm willing to pay $10/year for a product like Google Podcasts, I will look for products soon.

Also, Google Podcasts is free and ad-free, I never even see a promoted podcasts or something like that. But than can be one reason why Google shut it down. Google Keep is similar, simple, free and ad-free, I love it, hope they don't shut it down!

[runamok]

Yeah, it's also well integrated with Android Auto and I want a focused and easy to navigate app on the rare occasion I need to queue up a new podcast.

[jerrybender]

Podurama is this