From the same company that has also created arguably the best and most accurate weather app for Australia.
Yep - PocketWeather is also great. ShiftyJelly has been a standout in the Aus indie dev scene
Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
91–100 of 204 posts
Re: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
#92I think I've tested all the major podcasts app out there, paid for their subscriptions etc... The one that was clearly over the others has always been Pocket Casts. I'm also a subscriber of https://play.pocketcasts.com , their web platform. I just love them. I'm really happy that they've made the money they deserve (or I hope they did anyway). That being said, I don't feel confident at all that NPR will now respect m…
The NPR One app does collect statistics such as when do user start and stop podcasts etc. I remember them mentioning the app in a couple of their podcasts and how they use that data to improve their podcasts. It's very likely that they will use Pocket casts for that purpose and it's probably why they bought Pocketcasts, since so few people use the NPR One app.
Re: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
#93The Apple podcast app has gotten continuously worse over the past few years, I'm excited to see that 3rd parties are picking up the slack, but I'm still pretty disappointed that Apple has neglected one of the most important aspect of the phone (for me, anyway).
I've never used the Apple one, but Pocket Casts is the only app I've ever paid for on four platforms (Android, iOS, Windows Phone and the web player) and not regretted it at all. It's a gem.
I'm only on 3 (no iOS), and while I wouldn't say that I regretted the purchase on Windows Phone, it certainly wasn't because it was a solid performer there - it was a purchase to show support and encourage development.
I've always worried a bit that Shifty Jelly's model would prove unsustainable with money from new sales needed to continue paying for their servers and I've felt at times that they were strapped for resources, so this overall seems positive to me.
Re: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
#94I'm so glad to see the team behind Pocket Casts find success. It's one app I've never been disappointed with and supported right from the beginning. The paramount quality of a good app is how easily it gets out of the way and lets you enjoy the content. Pocket Casts has done a spectacular job at that.
I got the app for free from Amazon and then I heard how that hurt the company and went and bought the app on Google Play. I have never looked for another podcast player since this is next to perfect.
Re: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you tried https://play.pocketcasts.com/ ?
The text fields on the sign-up form [0] are unlabeled, the submit button ("Register") doesn't visually show keyboard focus, and almost nothing has sufficient color contrast; that doesn't bode well for the actual player's accessibility. Also, the element has a completely unnecessary role="form" ARIA attribute which suggests accessibility has crossed someone's mind but also that it's likely errors of consequence have b…
It's been a couple years and I don't recall if he was associated with NPR, WBEZ or both, but a meetup I sometimes go to had someone from "there" speaking about accessibility and giving the impression that it was actually a pretty serious matter for them.
Re: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
#96The Apple podcast app has gotten continuously worse over the past few years, I'm excited to see that 3rd parties are picking up the slack, but I'm still pretty disappointed that Apple has neglected one of the most important aspect of the phone (for me, anyway).
Try Overcast, I’m a big fan. I finally gave up on the Apple app years ago after it was unable to sync my place for the 1200th time. Never had that issue with Overcast.
I like Marco Arment and I admire his convictions, but I've avoided Overcast on principle because of a) his initial willingness to burn cash in order to gain as many users as possible (at the expense of third-party apps like Castro), and b) the app's gratuitous subscription model. I hope he keeps up the good work, but I also really hope that PocketCasts continues to be a worthy opponent.
Re: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
#97> Pocket Casts is an enormous opportunity to improve discovery for listeners, provide podcast producers with better insights
Translation: we're going to start tracking listeners' behavior.
> And yet despite this remarkable renaissance, the listening experience — particularly around discovery — has remained virtually unchanged. Pocket Casts will enable us to forge a closer relationship with our listeners
Translation: the podcast ecosystem being built on open, decentralized standards limits what we can do (see above), so we're going to use the market position we just acquired to "extend" it with proprietary features.
Re: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fair point on the group purchase. It still puts the app largely in the hands of content producers, which is a potential conflict of interest. > I also wouldn't call NPR's app spyware by any means unless you call the vast majority of apps and websites spyware too The 'Spywareness' that matters is relative: it's not so much a matter of whether information is collected at all, but rather how much & what information, in…
Its an app that downloads mp3 files off the internet. There’s not a whole lot of secret sauce there. There are dozens of other apps that you can use if Pocket Casts doesn’t suit you any longer.
That’s what it does now, yes, because it’s a good citizen in the open standards podcasting ecosystem. I hope it remains so.
As for other apps, I haven’t found anything that suits me as well. PC has a decent UI, is user (as opposed to publisher/advertiser) focused, and syncs between all my devices. It’s a truly great indie app. Rarely are such things improved by acquisition.
Re: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
#99I think I've tested all the major podcasts app out there, paid for their subscriptions etc... The one that was clearly over the others has always been Pocket Casts. I'm also a subscriber of https://play.pocketcasts.com , their web platform. I just love them. I'm really happy that they've made the money they deserve (or I hope they did anyway). That being said, I don't feel confident at all that NPR will now respect m…
The NPR One app does collect statistics such as when do user start and stop podcasts etc. I remember them mentioning the app in a couple of their podcasts and how they use that data to improve their podcasts. It's very likely that they will use Pocket casts for that purpose and it's probably why they bought Pocketcasts, since so few people use the NPR One app.
And this is precisely why I find this news unpleasant. Now I'll need to find another podcast app.
Re: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
As I wrote, I'm keeping an open mind. But in the absence of information more specific than Russell's rather fluffy & evasive blog post, it's entirely reasonable to be suspicious. Don't forget that for most humans, NPR isn't just a non-profit: it's a foreign government agency (and a very corporate-infected one compared to the best public broadcasters like the BBC or ABC). @peterjlee's other post here also suggests als…
NPR isn't really a government agency. They only get about 20% of their funding from the government: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding And regardless, it was not solely bought by NPR but by a combination of NPR, WNYC, WBEZ, and This American Life (two independent radio stations and a program producer). I also wouldn't call NPR's app spyware by any means unless you call the vast majority of apps and websites sp…
> They only get about 20% of their funding from the government
This statement by defenders of NPR always cracks me up. "Only" 20%? Why, that's "only" $445 million, or a mere "$1.35 per citizen," as the President and CEO of PBS put it recently. (Per citizen, not per taxpayer.)
So, what percentage of the funding for NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and Fox comes from the government? Or, what service does PBS provide that the others don't?
Oh wait, that's right, they're "neutral." That one only makes me laugh harder.