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Podcasts are just platform independent .mp3 files. They're mp3 files referenced by an RSS feed. But apps like Stitcher and the Apple Podcast App read those feeds, add good functionality, present a searchable database, etc.

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Stitcher does more than that. They actually re-host and (I believe, from the difference in audio quality) re-compress the files.

Most egregiously, as mentioned in the article, they also add their own advertisements.

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