BBC podcasts on third-party apps • Hacker News Board

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#51

Post by snapdangle » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:00 PM UTC

monkeynotes wrote: post #17

While I understand the objections to Google self promoting their products and masking audience data I don't see how removing their podcasts from one of the most popular platforms helps with what the BBC claims to be important. "What we think is important is pretty simple. We want people to have easy access to the wide range of BBC programmes, not just a select few, and be able to discover and listen to new ones reall…

If Google Podcasts has gone from non-existence to being "one of the most popular platforms" in a matter of months, its actually an insanely good reason not to engage with them at all.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#52

Post by Navarr » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:02 PM UTC

Traster wrote: post #3

This is hilarious. Google is trying to leverage it's search & mobile OS market positions into pushing people towards its podcast app. Unfortunately for Google it has come up against one of the few entities in the world that can just turn around and say "Fuck. That." Frankly, I think this is a monopolist tactic from Google and it should result in government investigations but I have no hope that will happen. Nice to k…

Google Podcasts is a replacement for the Podcast aspect of Google Play Music.

They're splitting it into "Google Podcasts" and "YouTube Music"

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#53

Post by raxxorrax » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:03 PM UTC

exabrial wrote: post #39

Google Podcasts won't let you add or remove podcasts subscriptions unless you turn on location and web history tracking on your account.

Really? That would be disqualifying properties for me personally. What advantage does their service offer?

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#54

Post by pudabezt » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:03 PM UTC

You have to just love BBC and Google.

They are really corner stones of our society today.

They should co-operate more.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#55

Post by Spivak » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:04 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #44

lbacaj wrote: post #31

Technically speaking the way Podcasts work is a fascinating thing. Most on HN May be familiar with this already but Podcasts are completely open and a creator simply publishes an RSS that they then provide to a podcast App such as iTunes so it can appear on the Apple podcast app. In exchange most of these podcast apps share any listen counts and analytics with the owner of the Podcast. However, almost always the file…

More and more platforms are popping up creating “exclusive” podcasts I think the issue is that you put the emphasis on “exclusive” instead of “podcasts”. If it isn’t delivered over an RSS feed that I can subscribe to in my podcast player of choice, it’s not a podcast.

Seems odd to define a thing by how it's packaged and consumed rather than the content itself. An episodic internet radio show doesn't stop being a podcast just because you're listening to it through winamp.

Would all it take to convince you that a podcast can delivered via something other than RSS, say ActivityPub, be your preferred client supporting it?

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#56

Post by hammock » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

simias wrote: post #42

lbacaj wrote: post #31

Technically speaking the way Podcasts work is a fascinating thing. Most on HN May be familiar with this already but Podcasts are completely open and a creator simply publishes an RSS that they then provide to a podcast App such as iTunes so it can appear on the Apple podcast app. In exchange most of these podcast apps share any listen counts and analytics with the owner of the Podcast. However, almost always the file…

Admittedly I don't consume a massive amount of podcasts but I don't have a problem with this move towards a more closed platform. If people want to make money from their work as podcasters they basically have three possibilities: beg for donations, ad tons of ads before, after and often in the middle of the podcasts or move to a subscription model (which means the podcast is no longer available for free). Since I veh…

The podcasts can be hosted by the owner (for example on Libsyn) but the syndication platforms copy and rehost them most of the time. SoundCloud, Spotify, etc.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#57

Post by cheez » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

Navarr wrote: post #52

Traster wrote: post #3

This is hilarious. Google is trying to leverage it's search & mobile OS market positions into pushing people towards its podcast app. Unfortunately for Google it has come up against one of the few entities in the world that can just turn around and say "Fuck. That." Frankly, I think this is a monopolist tactic from Google and it should result in government investigations but I have no hope that will happen. Nice to k…

Google Podcasts is a replacement for the Podcast aspect of Google Play Music. They're splitting it into "Google Podcasts" and "YouTube Music"

Google Podcasts is TERRIBLE compared to Google Play. The UX is just so bad. You'd expect at least some podcast-specific features like mark podcast as listened.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#58

Post by rjmunro » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:06 PM UTC

adwww wrote: post #4

Shame the BBC Sounds app doesn't support casting though, instead telling people to just ask their smart speaker to play the BBC podcasts directly. I sympathise with their decision, but it doesn't seem a very joined up one.

Which they now can't do...

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#59

Post by bo1024 » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:07 PM UTC

simias wrote: post #42

lbacaj wrote: post #31

Technically speaking the way Podcasts work is a fascinating thing. Most on HN May be familiar with this already but Podcasts are completely open and a creator simply publishes an RSS that they then provide to a podcast App such as iTunes so it can appear on the Apple podcast app. In exchange most of these podcast apps share any listen counts and analytics with the owner of the Podcast. However, almost always the file…

Admittedly I don't consume a massive amount of podcasts but I don't have a problem with this move towards a more closed platform. If people want to make money from their work as podcasters they basically have three possibilities: beg for donations, ad tons of ads before, after and often in the middle of the podcasts or move to a subscription model (which means the podcast is no longer available for free). Since I veh…

I agree with your points regarding ads, but I want to point out these two are usually at odds:

> a more closed platform

> convenient to play the audio any way I feel like (i.e. no intrusive DRM)

For instance with audio in general, we've seen lots of pushes toward streaming rather than downloading, which allows the platform to control when, where, and how people listen.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#60

Post by mikewhy » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 1:10 PM UTC

djhworld wrote: post #48

simias wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admittedly I don't consume a massive amount of podcasts but I don't have a problem with this move towards a more closed platform. If people want to make money from their work as podcasters they basically have three possibilities: beg for donations, ad tons of ads before, after and often in the middle of the podcasts or move to a subscription model (which means the podcast is no longer available for free). Since I veh…

I subscribe to Giant Bomb (a video games website) and they have a premium tier for content. The podcasts are available for free, but funded by ads, or you can subscribe to the premium feed where the ads are edited out.

Ah good old videogames.com.

Yeah premium podcasts are already a thing. There's no need to "figure out an API to let people use their license keys on third party players", it's simply HTTP Basic authentication embedded in the URL. Should work just about anywhere.