Apple is trying to compete on the wrong turf à la Netflix, Prime Video and Spotify. At the end of the day when the “original content” fad ends, its going hurt Apple badly.
Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
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Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
#142One interesting place Apple could add value is offering (once they combine all their services into Apple+, and then maybe only for those users) let podcast creators host ad-free versions of their episodes and give a little kick back to them when an episode is downloaded.
Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
"No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." It's gone now that everybody has a pocket supercomputer, but it's stunning just how far it went in completely changing the way we relate to music, and audio in general.
I don't think it changed the way I relate to music at all, it was just one more step in the ladder. I had a walkman before I had CD player before I had a MiniDisk Player before I had an iPod before I had Spotify.
I think the comment you’re replying to meant “we” as in society not as in specifically-you.
Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
#144No Apple don’t! Just keep the iTunes aggregator of podcasts open and free. Doing so has kept podcasts vibrant and Apple the defacto curator of the canonical list of podcasts — a huge moat
Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel like there is near universal agreement that service-exclusive content fragmentation is terrible for consumers regardless of media format.
What, like exclusive news articles that are only available from that news outlet? Sure, it would be great if content siloing wasn't ever a thing—but it's been a thing since forever. Hating on Apple for doing what the bulk of the commercial content industry seems misplaced. Next I suppose you'll be complaining because Apple chooses to be part of the capitalist economy and expects to be paid money for their goods. That…
Oh please. Is "embrace, extend, extinguish" bad because it is slowly closing off the open web, or is it fine that Apple, Spotify, etc are buying podcast producers and moving away from RSS for their own proprietary delivery methods.
And I'm not hating on Apple for doing what the bulk of the commercial content industry is doing. I listen to The Daily via their public RSS feeds, and I'm also an NYT subscriber. A significant majority of podcasting is available via public RSS feeds, even subscription-only Slate Plus allows you to plug a personalized RSS feed into the app of your choice. Apple and Spotify aren't building on existing open-web technologies that power RSS to deliver their premium content, they're forcing everybody into their proprietary apps after purchasing podcast producers (some of which, like Gimlet, I was previously ALSO a paid member of).
Perhaps it's best that we default to a highly critical stance when it comes to the most valuable and most profitable company in the world, and the decisions they make that affect the foundational principles of the web as we know it?
Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, yeah, all else being equal, it would be better for consumers to have access to any content they want on any app or device. But it's a bit difficult to imagine how "making exclusives illegal" would work, exactly. Would content producers be required to sell their content to every distribution network for the same price, so that every streaming service could, if they wanted to, make a profit by effectively charg…
> Would content producers be required to sell their content to every distribution network for the same price, so that every streaming service could, if they wanted to, make a profit by effectively charging more for the content? No. The platform (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) would have to have a different ownership structure than the content creator. This would allow the studios to sell their shows to whoever they want under…
I mention that, and my concerns about that, later in my comment.
Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Then again Netflix makes Netflix originals, which are only available on Netflix, and I don't mind that There are arguments for why this could be a bad thing. Originals/exclusives have the effect of giving an "unfair" advantage to the company who makes them, because to watch them you need to subscribe to their service. This allows them to compete in avenues other than price and quality of service. This is a similar…
I don't understand why we're all of a sudden so concerned with exclusivity. Many high-profile games are platform exclusives, HBO is exclusive, Spotify has artist-exclusive recordings. The world still spins 'round. There exists a sliding scale between "100% an agnostic platform" and "100% creates and hosts only exclusive content", both of which have existed for decades, and now people are worried that Apple is funding…
People have argued against all of those. Apple is the new one, hence people will argue against it now.
Plus, at least Netflix et all try to be cross-platform (even if we Linux users are often left in the cold). Will I need an Apple device to listen to these podcasts? If so, that's rather different than those other cases.
Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
#148Personally, I think this is good. It allows more people to make a living off of podcasting, and will hopefully keep Spotify from taking over the market. At minimum it helps the medium gain a wider adoption.
I promise I'm not trying to troll-bait you into saying something that will get you downvoted into oblivion. I'm really curious (please people don't downvote the response, assuming one comes). Why do you say: > and will hopefully keep Spotify from taking over the market. Why would that be such a bad thing in your opinion? Spotify seems like a clear underdog with a ton more vulnerability here. If anything I worry about…
I read it as meaning gen3 doesn't want any monopolists, rather than wanting Apple to take over instead of Spotify.
Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
#149Is this where Spotify is heading as well with its acquisition of Gimlet?
Yes, and Anchor. Podcasts are on the way out, just like the open Web. It's unfortunate that we refuse to learn from history.
> It's unfortunate that we refuse to learn from history.
Who does? It's not like most of us have any say in the matter.
Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
I should probably just use Overcast, too. It's insane to me how awful the Podcasts app is.
I really love Marco Arment and ATP, but I couldn't figure out the UI of Overcast, so if anyone's in the same boat I'd highly recommend Pocket Casts. It's a super nice UI and supports Google Casting.
I can't wrap my head around the way queuing works (or more so, doesn't work) in Overcast so I switched to Castro. Indie devs, iOS exclusive. Can't recommend it enough!