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Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

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Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#131

Post by antimatter »

whitehouse3 wrote: post #19
rahuldottech wrote: post #12

Cool idea? Yes. Good idea? No. If we do stuff like this, the podcast industry will switch to a closed system which would require you to install proprietary apps to listen to stuff. Likely several different apps for different shows and companies. As it exists today, it's a very open system, with publicly accessible feeds and the ability to use any app. Don't ruin it. It's not hard to press the "skip forward 30 seconds…

Agree. And it helps in general that podcast ads are largely inoffensive. I can't watch terrestrial television with its obnoxious commercials anymore. But I don't remember the last time a podcast advertisement annoyed me enough to even skip it.

My problem with podcast ads is how repetitive they are. I'm at a point where I hate squarespace so much because nearly every podcast I listen to is sponsored by them. Same goes for Simplisafe and ZipRecruiter. It's extremely tiring and I would consider this app for automating skipping of ads because of this reason.

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#132

Post by shantly »

tantalor wrote: post #56
nickthegreek wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the landing page, that is exactly what it does. "When AdSkipPro gets to the ads that were found above, it skips over and keeps on playing. The ads are still in there, and in fact you can go back and hear them if you like. This example shows AdSkipPro jumping from 23:49 to 25:09, past several ads:"

There's a difference between you manually skipping the ad and the app automatically skipping the ad.

Yes, one is much nicer, as I can achieve it with no ongoing effort without being so rich I can afford to pay someone else to do it for me. When tech lets me preserve my time and attention in exchange for little or no money, while doing the same without it would only be feasible for the very rich, is when it makes me the happiest.

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#133

Post by iudqnolq »

xyproto wrote: post #125
DataGata wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Podcasts and podcast advertisers know we can skip them, they accept this. If they see a lot of users skip ALL of them, it isn't okay.

Some people would prefer not to listen to podcasts at all, if they had to listen to ads.

Then they can do that. It's pretty simple to do.

You just decide the transaction isn't worth it, and then not execute the transaction. I do it whenever I decide not to buy a Tesla.

Edit: meant to say I regularly don't buy a Tesla, not regularly do. College student, definitely couldn't afford one

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#135

Post by PascLeRasc »

windsurfer wrote: post #16
rahuldottech wrote: post #12

Cool idea? Yes. Good idea? No. If we do stuff like this, the podcast industry will switch to a closed system which would require you to install proprietary apps to listen to stuff. Likely several different apps for different shows and companies. As it exists today, it's a very open system, with publicly accessible feeds and the ability to use any app. Don't ruin it. It's not hard to press the "skip forward 30 seconds…

By your own logic, podcasters would be releasing their own proprietary apps to prevent users from pressing the "skip forward 30 seconds" button when an ad starts playing. Why isn't that happening?

No, what's going to happen is that this will kill independent podcasting and make it unsustainable to run a podcast without agreements with Spotify or Apple or someone.

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#136

Post by epicide »

jldugger wrote: post #33
tw1010 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the advertisers can't tell if you're using this app or a traditional podcast app, are you really supporting the makers any less by using this app? The advertisers won't pay them any less because they won't be able to know that x% of users didn't hear the ad.

Who says they can't? The user agent used to download the podcast is a pretty strong signal, and it seems reasonable for podcasters to expose this data if it means higher bids on ads.

The user agent string has mostly been used to lie about the source of a request: https://webaim.org/blog/user-agent-string-history/

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#137

Post by olivierbeaulieu »

rahuldottech wrote: post #12

Cool idea? Yes. Good idea? No. If we do stuff like this, the podcast industry will switch to a closed system which would require you to install proprietary apps to listen to stuff. Likely several different apps for different shows and companies. As it exists today, it's a very open system, with publicly accessible feeds and the ability to use any app. Don't ruin it. It's not hard to press the "skip forward 30 seconds…

unthetical

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#138

Post by bilekas »

pan69 wrote: post #43
nickthegreek wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So its ethical to manually skip the ads but not to automate the process?

Is it ethical not to look at a billboard when you're walking down the street? Is it ethical to mute the TV when commercials come up? I think it's just your choice, right?

You're conflating things, imagine that billboard was not on the wall and instead it jumped in front of you on the way home.

Imagine the advertisement was not on TV but it was ringing your doorbell.

An option is ethical, one when you replace someone else's work is not. (i don't like advertisement thrown in my face either).

As much as I hate the clever marketing tactics that happen, I wouldn't want them to have one more excuse to invade me more.

This seems like one of them

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#139

Post by simias »

rahuldottech wrote: post #12

Cool idea? Yes. Good idea? No. If we do stuff like this, the podcast industry will switch to a closed system which would require you to install proprietary apps to listen to stuff. Likely several different apps for different shows and companies. As it exists today, it's a very open system, with publicly accessible feeds and the ability to use any app. Don't ruin it. It's not hard to press the "skip forward 30 seconds…

I agree that making money by effectively making it harder for the original content creators to make money is not super ethical in my book and as such I'd refuse to use such an app.

That being said:

>If we do stuff like this, the podcast industry will switch to a closed system which would require you to install proprietary apps to listen to stuff. Likely several different apps for different shows and companies.

You can dismiss all adblockers that way. Except it's not really how it'll work: if people really make it inconvenient to access the content people will pirate instead. Podcasts are also generally small audio files which makes them super easy to share.

Instead I think that blocking ads (which, IMO, are a cancer for our society and I have no moral or ethical problem blocking everywhere) will incentivize podcasters to find alternative schemes to make money. For instance you could have a "Spotify for podcasts" that lets you watch podcasts ad-free with a subscription. There actually already are a few services for that (Stitcher comes to mind). I actually pay for a Stitcher subscription to listen to my podcasts ad-free.

I want to believe in a future version of the internet where everybody and their dog aren't spending their entire resources conning me into watching ads I don't want to see.

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#140

Post by xvector »

endorphone wrote: post #127
zozbot234 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that this app is somewhat less than ethical and that folks should refrain from using or supporting it. It's one thing to block 3rd-party ads on the Web, which come with fairly severe privacy implications for the user and ruin their Web browsing experience - but none of this applies to ads which are simply part of an open audio podcast. If the industry shifts to proprietary players in order to enforce ads, thi…

Podcast ads have a much more insidious problem in that they perpetuate and encourage a disingenuous, lie-for-dollars[1] culture. Hearing podcasters gushing about products that just so happen to sponsor their podcast is exactly what advertisers are paying for -- that it's "genuine" and someone who you theoretically trust is pitching whatever they're selling -- and it's just incredibly greasy and distasteful. It is the…

I was about to write a snarky, contradictory response to this, but I think you have a point.

When a normal ad comes on, it's outside of the "content" you're used to. A different voice, a different presentation style, a different part of the webpage, a different section of the newspaper.

When the content producer themselves is presenting the ad, however, you feel a bit more subconsciously inclined to trust them. IMO this is why YouTube ads have taken off so well.

Obviously I know that it's just an ad, but in the back of my head I'm paying more attention to it.

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