Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Vvector 892 days ago
Please no. I don't want to be forced to use a special player to listen to podcasts just so analytics can be collected
5 comments

But if we put it on The Blockchain, you can mint PodCoins by listening to podcasts! Of course, to ensure you're really listening, you'll also need a secure cryptographic module installed in your auditory cortex. Depending on how well that surgery goes, maybe it finally can put the killer in killer app.
This is the wrong kind of cyberpunk, I was assured there would be USB-key knuckledusters so I could punch 1337haxX into corpo terminals.
No, I fully agree, the idea being that there’s a standard set of analytics and a way to report on them that apps can openly support.

Granted the odd ball out would be Apple and if they’d support the analytics in their podcast app, but much like Apple’s podcast directory is the defacto directory, there’s an opportunity for a better, OPEN, solution.

EDIT ADD: I’d be surprised if every podcast app doesn’t already collect a robust amount of analytics on listening, they just don’t report it where podcast owners could see easily.

The reason podcasts are so great as a medium is that they have not yet been “platformified” and many still just distribute with RSS.

Do not enshittify podcasts.

Spotify took a dear podcast of mine 'private' (it has since been freed). Some have their own paywalls. Even some 'smaller' podcasts now feature network leaders. Many thus feature localized ads.

Not sure we're not already on that path.

> Some have their own paywalls

Nothing wrong with paying for a product. A common method is a private patreon RSS (Atom) feed. It's still an open standard but the podcast earns money. It's at least a better option than the path Spotify took.

> Many thus feature localized ads.

I'm not against dynamic ads per-say, but it really reminds me of TV with the Ad's being wildly irrelevant to me and often being significantly loader than the actual podcast

RSS is a RFC MUST for it to be called podcast.
Do you have a source for this?
These are common events used by the ad industry as well