Google introduces Google Podcasts

My number one issue with Google's handling of podcasts, as someone who has a podcast, is their claim of rights to it. As far as I can tell, Google's handling of podcasts is unique/unheard of elsewhere:

Google uploads the podcasts and hosts them directly, meaning you must agree to grant Google an irrevocable worldwide license to use your podcast's content, including the ability to present copies of your podcast you have delisted or removed.

This is in stark contrast to iTunes, which treats it's podcast section like an RSS feed, simply facilitating people finding and retrieving your podcast from your servers. Most podcast sites and apps work this way, which is why I'm rarely surprised to find my podcast is listed somewhere new without me even doing anything: People don't need rights to show my RSS feed.

I've had requests to make my podcast available in Google Play, but am holding on Google offering an option that doesn't require rights to my content. And as far as I know, and according to the reviews here on the Play Store, Google still won't let people add their own podcast RSS feeds manually to the app: It requires the podcast have agreed to let Google host it and agreed to their terms.

You cannot subscribe to podcasts unless you enable the recording of Web & App Activity on your Google account. Doing so will record and associate all your search and browsing activity with your Google account. Using Google Assistant also requires the same setting and more to be enabled. A deal-breaker.

But at least they let you manage your privacy settings in one place and is somewhat consistent. Cannot really say the same for Amazon for example.