We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts • Hacker News Board

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#151

Post by apendleton » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:33 PM UTC

schnevets wrote: post #102

emerongi wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you are even exactly complaining about. Is it the UI? I agree that most podcast players just lack features. They're built for "dummies": you can subscribe and click play, that's mostly it. I'm a power-user. Podcast Addict on Android is the best player I have used, it has a ton of features and extreme customizability. Still, I am now using PocketCasts which is inferior by a wide margin, but it has sync c…

Simply put, it's a UI issue that affects every aspect of the business. Podcasts have an artificially diminished shelf-life. If you don't release an episode every two weeks, your show gets buried in the library. It means the format is synonymous with churned, radio broadcast-like content. This has also affected the monetization model. Most ads use promo codes for services, but those promos expire and change, rendering…

Lots of podcasts now use ad-serving platforms that splice in ads on the fly when the podcast is downloaded, so if you listen to old episodes today, you get current advertisers, promo codes, etc.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#152

Post by TylerE » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:34 PM UTC

paulryanrogers wrote: post #150

TylerE wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the millennial internet company market inevitably cools (Dollar Shave Club, Blue Apron, etc), where are all these podcasters gonna get ads from?

At my last job we worked in internet tech for radio stations. Most of the station money came from the auto industry. I guess that makes sense since a non-smart radio fits with driving better than touch screens. EDIT: Forgot to mention, all that to say, it'll probably come from markets that fit how/when/where consumers listen: exercise, entertainment, etc.

Terrestrial radio is also reasonably location targeted. Can’t really do that with podcasts, at least not with any sort of reliability.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#153

Post by wenbin » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:34 PM UTC

If you want to explore what podcasts are out there, try Listen Notes, a podcast search engine I built https://www.listennotes.com

You would be surprised how many unknown but interesting podcasts on the Internet :)

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#154

Post by rsanheim » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:37 PM UTC

rhacker wrote: post #127

I have a serious question: For those of you that like podcasts, did your usage go way down (or even stop) when you got married? I listened to them all the time back in the day, but mostly because they were tech oriented. For husband / wife activities only video/youtube/netflix seem to work. Is there any notion that Podcasts are better for people not in relationship thing? I mean you have to either play it for the hou…

I've been listening to podcasts for something like 15 years, since early days of TWiT & Java Posse, but I think my usage has remained the same over that time when I've been in long term relationships.

My current partner and I will listen to more 'general' podcasts when we are both in the car - so things like This American Life, Akimbo, Heavyweight, How I Built This, or Dan Carlin's HH and Common Sense.

When I'm driving or walking around solo, I'll listen to more tech / niche things. Podcasts like the Accidental Tech Podcast, Ruby / React / startup type things, etc.

There is honestly so much good content out there that my 'to-listen' queues in Overcast are overflowing for both types of listening.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#155

Post by scrumbledober » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:37 PM UTC

TecoAndJix wrote: post #111

petercooper wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Listening to podcasts or audiobooks while I go to sleep is my biggest life hack. I've been doing it for about six years and now sleep in around 5-10 minutes, whereas it used to take up to an hour before that. It does mean it takes me months to get through a longer book, but that's no big deal, and means I actually going to bed.

How do you keep track of what chapter/paragraph you fell asleep at when you wake up?

this is the biggest problem i have with audiobooks/podcasts. I've thought about the idea of hacking a fitbit or apple watch that can track sleep to automatically pause them but I fall asleep much faster and easier than my fiancee and she likes to leave things going to cover my snoring.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#156

Post by neetdeth » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:37 PM UTC

blfr wrote: post #92

I remember listening to EconTalk back when you downloaded it to your mp3 player using a computer. And maybe I'm a hipster but the golden age seems to be over. It's all too mainstream now, too polished, too polite. Nowadays, I scroll through the multiple new episodes of many shows I used to enjoy to rarely find something I genuinely want to hear. Sure, you can probably dig to something like Cum Town but even then it d…

There's now a glut of overproduced, samey content trying to compete as timewasters for a general audience. It feels like browsing through mass market paperbacks at the supermarket.

I think we're in a golden age if you're interested in fringe politics. Otherwise, we're well past it and on the decline.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#157

Post by sotojuan » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:39 PM UTC

and0 wrote: post #39

Mister_Snuggles wrote: post #24

Personally, I'm not a fan of podcasts at all. I've tried, and listened to some interesting ones, but in the end I'd much rather consume the same content by reading instead of listening. It's faster, it's easier to skim and skip around, you can have hyperlinks to other references, etc. Overall, text just works better for the kinds of content I'm interested in. There's a podcast related to a product I work with that I'…

I seriously enjoy humor or political / debate podcasts, especially while commuting, but technical podcasts never stick. I find when getting into a new framework (something like Rails or React) then it's an interesting bit of "immersion learning" to throw on the latest episode of the big associated podcast. Maybe I pick up a bit of knowledge, but just hearing people speak naturally about the framework helps me build a…

There's technical podcasts that are guides? When listening to something like The Changelog, it's just a conversation about a technology and its origins.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#158

Post by blang » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:40 PM UTC

WhompingWindows wrote: post #139

blang wrote: post #88

I'm actually worried that podcasts are going the way of the web. What, for a while, was a weird world of enthusiasts talking about things that interests them seems to be morphing into a world of a few big corporate entities calling the shots. I have two reasons for these worries. 1) The purchase of Gimlet by Spotify mentioned in the article. 2) The purchase of Stuff Media by iHeart. The purchase of Gimlet is problema…

Personally, I subscribe to the podcasts of: Sam Harris, Conan, The Energy Gang, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and a couple other NPR shows. None of my podcasts, IMO, are decreasing in quality, nor would I expect any of these groups to sell-out as they are off-shoots of other things. The podcasts I listen to are intentionally hand-selected over time to be 1) informative, 2) have a decent cont…

Gimlet media was started by Alex Blumberg, who worked previously for "This American Life" and "Planet Money" (he may have started that one). These are both NPR shows as well as very popular podcasts

One of it's show is "Reply All" is hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman. They used to host a podcast called "TLDR" on NPR (WNYC).

These guys are all super talented and deserve to be paid very well for the content they produce, but to say those shows and podcasters you like won't go to where there money is probably not 100%.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#159

Post by rsanheim » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:40 PM UTC

blang wrote: post #88

I'm actually worried that podcasts are going the way of the web. What, for a while, was a weird world of enthusiasts talking about things that interests them seems to be morphing into a world of a few big corporate entities calling the shots. I have two reasons for these worries. 1) The purchase of Gimlet by Spotify mentioned in the article. 2) The purchase of Stuff Media by iHeart. The purchase of Gimlet is problema…

I agree the purchase of Gimlet and putting shows behind paywalls is concerning.

That said, as long as the vast majority of shows continue to publish their shows as god intended -- as enclosures on an simple RSS feed -- I think podcasts will stay healthy and vibrant. I will not subscribe to Spotify for a whole host of reasons, and it would take far, far more 'available only on Spotify' podcasts to ever make me reconsider that.

Re: We're Entering a Golden Age of Podcasts

#160

Post by djhworld » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 6:40 PM UTC

I have my regular podcasts that I listen to pretty much every week and some others that I dip in and out of.

I just hope podcasts don't fall to the walled gardens, it's already happening with Spotify, BBC Sounds etc. They hate the idea of RSS