Google Podcasts is going to the graveyard as YouTube Music takes over
theverge.com/2023/9/26/23890694/google-podcas...
theverge.comPosted Sep 26, 2023, 2:21 PM UTC
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theverge.comI dislike using the same app for music and podcasts. Even before my switch, I only used Spotify for music and Google Podcasts for podcasts. Guess I'll have to find an alternative next year.
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If you are on Android, I suggest Antennapod since it's free and open source
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yep. it also will let you import/export your subscriptions and listening history pretty easily and even has an auto export, so you can export into a folder that's backed up via, say, DropBox or Nextcloud or whatever file backup service you use, and you don't have to worry about losing your listening history or anything if your phone gets lost or you're on another device.
Which, if you're coming from a cloud-based podcast service like Google Pod or Spotify, might not sound like a big deal, but for a basic/self-hosted podcast app, it is a pretty good feature to have.
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even has an auto export, so you can export into a folder that's backed up via, say, DropBox or Nextcloud or whatever file backup service you use
Does it? I thought it was either automatic sync with Gpodder or Nextcloud or manual export. Where is there an automatic export?
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You're right, it's not automatic. I got it mixed up. It can sync like you said, but exporting is manual apparently.
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Just downloaded this due to Google Podcasts shutting down.
Can you play individual episodes from podcasts in Antennapod without subscribing to them? You can do that in Google Podcasts.
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Does Antennapod support Android Auto? I've found that some podcasts app may show up on AA but don't let you see downloaded episodes.
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Does Antennapod support Android Auto? I've found that some podcasts app may show up on AA but don't let you see downloaded episodes.
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Use PocketCasts. It's the best app out there and it's also cross platform.
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I definitely second PocketCasts, it's great.
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Been using pocket casts for years! So good
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Is it 100% free and ad-free?
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It can be free, if you want to use a desktop app it becomes pay
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I stand by this so hard. Free user here. It's the best. I to like my Music app and podcast app to be different as Podcasts use different controls.
Auto download certain post costs, be notified of certain new episodes, adjust the skip time for forward and back, auto skip a certain period of time for specific post casts (like if you know one podcast has 2 minutes of ads every time, you can have it skip right over them).
Love it.
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The granular per podcast controls is what I like. There´s this one podcast with a long intro and outro. I just have it set to skip at the beginning and end. Also, the silence trimmer is amazing.
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Agreed.... I loved the simplicity of Google Podcasts. Having them mixed in on Spotify is so annoying IMO.... I guess I'm in the minority but when I bring up a music app, I'm not deciding between podcasts and music, and don't want the suggestions mixed in. Two completely different things for me, it would be like if my Netflix shows started popping up along my music playlists.
I'm going to try out the PocketCasts app everyone is recommending.
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100%. There's something to be said for unitaskers.
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I appreciated the podcasts-only app. I use Spotify mainly for the social/sharing aspect, but I find the app overall to be busy and distracting. It's like when I go on IG to look for a specific bit of info about an event, but then I end up scrolling stories and reels for an hour... that's how I feel about Spotify. And I don't think YTM is much better, but since I have a YT Premium subscription, YTM has always been a "free" ride-along that I just used by default.
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Good now I don't have to switch between 2 apps when going from podcasts to music. Don't get why it took so long
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I actually prefer having separate apps for podcasts and music. It means I don't "lose my place" and can very quickly resume the podcast where I paused it. If they're in the same app, it'll require more tapping and scrolling to get back.
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Same for me. I REALLY HATE YTM, YouTube, and now podcasts all in one location. My playlists are ruined and I hate navigating on YouTube and YTM because of it. If I could select which playlist are visible where, then I wouldn't mind so much.
Definitely looking for another podcast app for this.
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I hate YTM so much. GPM was so great, now YTM just plays the same 25 songs over and over and I can never discover any new music on it when I pick a song I like and start a radio. This might be the last straw for me and I am deep in the google verse
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Google play music used to integrate them seamlessly, you could have one queue for podcasts and one queue for music and it would remember your place. Youtube music was such a massive downgrade, it's taking years just to end up with an inferior experience
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It's like they're taking years to make an inferior Spotify clone.
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GPM was amazing and I hate them so much for killing it in favor of the YTM shitshow
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This is the only reason why I moved to Spotify, I knew Google would eventually kill a product I actually used and like.
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Yeah but Spotify podcasts I don't like either. Wrecked my homepage last time I subscribed to anything and they took away the music only filter without being forced into tik tok style feed. It just feels way too bloated like the app is trying to do everything but the result suffers. I like the simplicity of Google podcasts. So basic so simple it did what I needed. I'll be sad when it's for good.
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Apple Podcasts are solid if you have that option, simple and doesn’t change much
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I am feeling the pressure from the rest of my family, who are all iPhone users. This adds fuel to the fire.
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It’s honestly the reason I moved from the pixel series. I was all in on the nexus line, and nearly every pixel up until the 4 along with the tablet and earbuds, and then one by one they kept disappointing me and I ended up switching. It’s much better knowing you’re getting support as a consumer
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But it's only podcasts that exist as YouTube videos!
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It’s not.. read the actual blog posts https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/podcast-destination-on-youtube-music/
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It’s not.. read the actual blog post on blog.youtube, they will even allow you to import RSS feeds
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They better expand podcasts everywhere soon though
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In the actual blog post on blog.youtube (not the Verge’s summary of it), they said that “We plan to make Podcasts on YouTube Music globally available before the end of the year.”
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Good
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Who is using YTM for podcasts? Unless the podcast has a video, you can’t find shows. The app sucks for podcasts right now.
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I use it but it feels kinda half baked currently hopefully it gets a lot better and quickly
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It feels like it's basically just YouTube right now. Where are the audio only podcasts?
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YouTube music only shows podcast that have been uploaded to YouTube. It doesn't show any audio only podcasts that are not on YouTube. There are a few audio only podcasts that I listen to that are not uploaded to YouTube and can't be found on the YouTube music app.
Also any podcast you listen to on YouTube music that you click on the like button it saves it to your like playlist on YouTube. So then YouTube will start recommending videos related to the podcast you listen to. I don't want my YouTube feed filled with recommendations gotten from my podcast likes.
I guess I'll download a third party app.
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Yeah it's awful. There's some very popular podcasts out there like "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" that just don't have full episodes on there. Sometimes you'll have the short clips uploaded to YT, but that's it.
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I guess they will change the app and improve it.
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They said months ago that they are adding rss feeds later this year.
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I'm not surprised. Even though Google said they wouldn't shut down Google Podcasts, I knew they were still gonna do it...
Google podcast is actually an elegant app. I liked it. I'm gonna use it as much as I can before it dies.
It's so haaaaard to say good byyyyyye to yesterdaaaaaaaaaEEEEEEEE
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Because you just know that YouTube Music will screw it up, and probably ad tons of its own ads to the ones already in the podcasts.
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Yeah it will be a sad day for me for sure. I use that app every day it's so basic but just feels like I have what I need no extra features. But alas I'm not the mainstream customer as I prefer to keep music and podcasts in separate apps and don't watch podcasts on video.
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Google podcast is actually an elegant app. I liked it. I'm gonna use it as much as I can before it dies.
This is what I liked about it. Near-perfect UI and. functionality. I hated when Spotify mixed podcasts with music and actually made me quit being a subscriber.
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Nothing's safe at Google. Just a week before Google shut down Stadia, Google promised and reassured the rumors of Stadia's shutdown were not true.
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The app is great. Does exactly what you want for less then 20MB of storage. Now here comes YouTube music which is over 400MB, of which, I will use not use. I guess it's time to find another app.
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Not really surprised. Honestly, Google Podcasts was never very good to begin with. The only reason I started using it was because Pocket Casts had a history of app updates that would cause it to ridiculously burn through battery.
I don't mind moving to YTM as I'm there already, but I'd prefer a separate app or even just a separate face / portal for podcasts and music. I don't tend to listen to them at the same time.
I welcome the OPML export/import. It's about time that was added.
It will also be good to have multiple queues. I always hated having just the one in Google Podcasts.
I'd like to see a better way to "Mark as Played" multiple podcasts or to be able to automatically not see podcasts from 2 years ago and more tuneable times for removing podcasts from the lists ("Remove completed episodes"/"Remove unfinished episodes" only has presets in GP). I really hope these will improve rather than carry over from GP.
So, overall, I'll wait and see how this is. I know I can always go back to PocketCasts if it totally sucks, warts and all, so long as PC doesn't melt my phone like it did a few years ago.
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id reccommend pocket casts
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not this shit again
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if they don't wreck my home page and actually stay in a podcast tab I might give it a try.
For now I like to use Apple podcast, I think it's by far the best and prettiest podcast app out there. I like to keep things seperate but like I said, if they're separate into tabs, I might give it a go but I'm sure that in Google fashion , the UI will be Fugly just like YTM.
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... I literally migrated my podcast library to Google Podcasts yesterday due to Pocketcasts recent bugs.
Thanks, Google.
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I honestly have zero hope Podcasts will have any spotlight or get better under YouTube. I feel they're doing this strictly because Spotify is doing it.
I am going to use the Google Podcasts app til the very last day I'm forced over.
I've never felt that YouTube as a subsidiary and organization has ever had a true vision to actually compete with Spotify or better yet manage podcasts correctly. I appreciate how other podcast apps are done, like Apple's Podcast App Google's current Podcast app, as well as even specific podcast app whereas I feel YouTube are just going to try to merge this video and audio together and won't blend well.
I just feel like YT Music and now Podcasts is just a skinned layer of a video platform. And not a TRUE actual Audio/Music/Podcast app like Google Play Music once was. And it has always bothered me.
Like how you still can't have separate Playlists and see you music AND video playlists on the YouTube app is down right silly to me. But oh, I'm sorry... it's all on one single platform 🙄
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I liked GP but YTM has greater potential. I used to keep podcasts separate but find it easy to use one app for both on Spotify. A lot of podcasts are filmed which would be nice on YTM.
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First of all perfect timing to announce this during a YTM team strike.
Secondly, I really enjoyed the google podcast app. When it was there I loved their daily news feed that randomly grabbed different stories and fed them to me.
Why does every music app have to force podcasts. It’s annoying.
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Shocked I tell you I'm absolutely SHOCKED. /S
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I guess this was to be expected. I like Google Podcasts since it’s lightweight with clean UI but admittedly Youtube’s podcast recommendations are a lot better. Hope they add trim silence and auto-download new episodes at some point.
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Well nevermind what I said about them having podcasts in two places. I'm okay with this, but many are not going to be. I'd say allow people to choose where they listen to their podcasts in the Google ecosystem
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I'm mostly fine with this, but I hope they add more features to podcasts in YTM, like the ability to sort/plY oldest to newest like I can in Google Podcasts.
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I knew this was coming but it's still a bummer. As basic as it was, I really liked Google Podcasts.
It was really abandoned though. That "mark as played" bug, the fact that is embedded in Google app, no android tv app, shitty website and shitty ipad app maybe be wait for it's "death". Served me well all these years though
Oh yeah, it was definitely lacking. I just weirdly liked it.
It was great for people who wanted a simple browser based desktop player.
It's got a charm to it. Nice and easy to use
And they wonder why only 4% in the US used Google Podcasts...
Google at it like always.
Me too. It was my go to podcast app. So simple and basic. I prefer separate app for podcasts and to keep it away from my music list at all costs. Spotify sucks for podcasts its so bloated. I hope ytm doesn't end up the same.
This is the second time Google has killed their podcast app. The first app was Google listen.
Google Play Music had podcasts too lol