Live data from Hacker News

Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

github.com

21–30 of 278 posts

Re: Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

#21

Neat software, but I think this is less defensible than other ad blockers. With web ad blockers you protect against tracking, privacy violations and potentially malware and thus don't see "unacceptable ads". In contrast this seems to be about blocking ads just for the sake of blocking ads.

I can't be the only one who literally can't stand the sound of radio advertising. They make a point of using as many annoying and attention-grabbing sounds as possible, not to mention the cheap and cheesy jingles.

I'll often find myself turning the radio down to the second-lowest volume it goes, so I can turn it back up when there's actual music. Equally often I turn it down and then forget about it for the rest of the trip. Honestly, a trip in silence is sometimes preferable to one where I have to micro-manage the volume knob, let alone one where I have to listen to radio ads.

Re: Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

#22

Right now, there's teams of people at companies like Spotify and Stitcher, frantic in front of whiteboards, trying to plan a future for podcasts wherein it will be harder/impossible to skip the ads. First, they have to control the distribution. Then, they have to build the tech, which will obviously involve some kind of DRM. To say that I hope they fail is an understatement. But I know they'll try because in the inte…

A lack of balance is why we can't have nice things. There has to be a middle ground where publishers make money to keep publishing and consumers of those publishing keep consuming the content without being annoyed to the point of wanting to abolish all ads.

The result of extremism here is that it wouldn't be viable financially to produce content. Paid subscription models don't seem to work leaving advertising the only revenue stream publishers have.

I'm saying all this from a content consumer point of view, not a publishing one.

Re: Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

#23
post #7

I think the podcasts i listen to will not work, the moderators speak the ads themselves. Luckily it‘s easy to skip ahead 15 seconds at a time. At least ads in podcasts cannot track me so i don‘t feel i have to block them for that reason alone.

There's a thing called "server side ad injection" (more like cancer injection) that inserts arbitrary ads directly in the audio stream so the ad is independent from the original producer. Presumably they do some rudimentary tracking based on IPs, user-agent and whether your podcast client downloaded the file past the point where the ad is injected.

Yeah I listen to a somewhat niche podcast from the UK, and recently I've been getting ads in my native German in it.

Re: Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

#24
We also need to start seeing advertising as a way for publishers/performers/makers to cut a slice of benefit from corporate profits. If we remove advertising everywhere, corporates are just going to seek non-media ways to market , and the whole mediascape will lose.

Re: Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

#26

Right now, there's teams of people at companies like Spotify and Stitcher, frantic in front of whiteboards, trying to plan a future for podcasts wherein it will be harder/impossible to skip the ads. First, they have to control the distribution. Then, they have to build the tech, which will obviously involve some kind of DRM. To say that I hope they fail is an understatement. But I know they'll try because in the inte…

The problem is us. We don't pay. We spend ridiculous amounts on nice cars, vacations, fancy clothes, but everything else gets scraps.

50 dollar for a book? Ha! 9,99 max and that's pushing it.

100 dollar to get access to a podcast with 200 hours of quality content that may change your life. Ha! 19,99 if I'm having a good day.

100-300 dollar a month for quality TV? Ha!! I'll pay 10 and then watch BS commercials all fucking day.

Re: Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

#27
post #22

Right now, there's teams of people at companies like Spotify and Stitcher, frantic in front of whiteboards, trying to plan a future for podcasts wherein it will be harder/impossible to skip the ads. First, they have to control the distribution. Then, they have to build the tech, which will obviously involve some kind of DRM. To say that I hope they fail is an understatement. But I know they'll try because in the inte…

A lack of balance is why we can't have nice things. There has to be a middle ground where publishers make money to keep publishing and consumers of those publishing keep consuming the content without being annoyed to the point of wanting to abolish all ads. The result of extremism here is that it wouldn't be viable financially to produce content. Paid subscription models don't seem to work leaving advertising the onl…

The false dichotomy of "ads vs any content at all, whatsoever" plays perfectly into the narrative of the scummy advertising industry.

Consumer tastes change. Just as we saw a precipitous drop in smokers from the 1950s to now, we are witnessing a sea change where the human parasites are slowly waking up to the revelation that their business model has a sunset.

Consumers are starting to be more vocal and active in their (justified) desire to not be bombarded with advertising everywhere they go.

Re: Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

#28
post #24

We also need to start seeing advertising as a way for publishers/performers/makers to cut a slice of benefit from corporate profits. If we remove advertising everywhere, corporates are just going to seek non-media ways to market , and the whole mediascape will lose.

As far as I remember there was an Internet without ads. I don't think we need literal garbage stimuli for media to thrive.

Re: Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

#29
post #24

We also need to start seeing advertising as a way for publishers/performers/makers to cut a slice of benefit from corporate profits. If we remove advertising everywhere, corporates are just going to seek non-media ways to market , and the whole mediascape will lose.

As far as I remember there was an Internet without ads. I don't think we need literal garbage stimuli for media to thrive.

When?

Re: Adblock Radio: An adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts

#30
post #22

Right now, there's teams of people at companies like Spotify and Stitcher, frantic in front of whiteboards, trying to plan a future for podcasts wherein it will be harder/impossible to skip the ads. First, they have to control the distribution. Then, they have to build the tech, which will obviously involve some kind of DRM. To say that I hope they fail is an understatement. But I know they'll try because in the inte…

A lack of balance is why we can't have nice things. There has to be a middle ground where publishers make money to keep publishing and consumers of those publishing keep consuming the content without being annoyed to the point of wanting to abolish all ads. The result of extremism here is that it wouldn't be viable financially to produce content. Paid subscription models don't seem to work leaving advertising the onl…

'What about my business model' is not a valid argument. You are not in fact entitled to one. Personally I'd rather see 95% less 'content' on the Internet if it meant it were ad free. I'd rather have no Facebook than one that serves you personalized ads. I'd rather have no online news media than news websites that serve ads. I'd rather have no television programs than watch programs with commercials. 'Content creators' often overestimate how much people care about their 'content' and they think we couldn't do without them. Well, most of us can. And most of us hate ads.

I'm sure, in an ad-free world, that content creators who really care would find a way to make it work. Maybe there'd be less content this way, but so be it. Quality isn't quantity.

Post reply on HN