I don't get it. You want the podcast, you value the work, you don't want them paid?
Don't they have a day job?
Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts
61–69 of 69 posts
Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts
#62If this uses pydub which uses ffmpeg under-the-hood, I guess it re-encodes the .mp3s rather than "losslessly" snipping out frames of audio without re-encoding?
That's right. Also adds a fade on the ad transitions. I haven't noticed a drop in quality.
Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts
#63How intensive is this to run? Could it be set to run automatically for each new podcast that gets added to the original feed?
On an M3 15 minutes of podcasts takes about 1 minute of processing. The transcription is the slow part.
Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts
#64This is interesting as a technical PoC but also feels a bit unethical. The moral case for ad blocking on the web seems pretty clear: online advertising is built on massive exploitation of user privacy, has horrible UX, and is often implemented so poorly that it tanks pageload performance. In short, I understand why people use ad blockers on the web. Podcasts though? In RSS-based podcasting, which is what this tool ta…
Good points! I agree using this to bypass a reasonable paid ad-free option is dubious.
In Canada the CBC's tax-funded podcasts with ads also feel a little dubious.
It'd be cool if you could have an personal AI purchase and curate content for you.
Edit: thinking a bit more about it I guess that's pretty much what YouTube premium is.
Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is already being done. Same as geo targeting dynamically inserted ads based on the IP of the downloading client.
They use the IP! That explains why I was getting Spanish ads for a few days after returning home.
I lived in CA and got advertisements for Ralphs. I spent some time in Sedona and all of the sudden I got the same advertisements, same jingle etc but instead of Ralphs it was Fry's. That definitely threw me off.
Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts
#66Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts
#67Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because there's nothing to say really.
How about answering the question? I don't see why not do that and instead reply to my comment.
The question at its core is a whataboutism and I don't have time for those. It doesn't change the core tenet of the point being made, which is that this prevents publishers from monetizing something they tend to charge money for.
And given that most publishers are small and just scraping by and this directly harms them, I think that sucks.
Stop free-riding on absolutely everyone like they're a Hollywood studio.
Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
My completely ignorant and uninformed opinion: If the vast majority of folks started skipping ads, and ads thus no longer had reasonable conversion rates, companies would stop investing in podcast ads and many podcasts would stop being produced.
Probably, but subj has zero chance to ever serve vast majority. It’s a tool for people who’d never buy anything from ads either way and know what a local server is. No real ethics issues here.
I feel that the vast majority of folks would claim they'll 'never buy anything from ads'. Isn't one of the main benefits of advertising purely brand recognition?
I'm unsure how I feel about the 'zero chance to ever serve vast majority' argument. I use uBlock and Sponsor Block, but recognize that that has an impact at scale. I guess that argument kind of feels to me like "your single vote doesn't matter." For a few hundred or thousand folks, sure. But what if 500k people start using it?