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Comment by MBCook | Hacker News Reader

Apple has controlled the podcast industry through the iTunes podcast directory since day one.

They’ve been benevolent and haven’t cracked down on things. They let basically any podcast in for free. They let 3rd party clients use their directory for free.

They ARE the podcast industry. And they’ve been open.

I see this purely as a reaction to Spotify and Google and others trying to grab and control the industry with private “podcasts” that can only be listened to in their custom app.

They’re trying not to be shoved out. And they’re big enough to be able to hold it.

It would be great if 3rd party apps on iOS could access your podcast subscriptions.

But this is way better to me than standing by and letting Spotify or whoever destroy the industry.

(I subscribe to podcasts, but not through Apple since I can’t use my preferred app, Overcast).

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> Apple has controlled the podcast industry through the iTunes podcast directory since day one.

> They ARE the podcast industry. And they’ve been open.

Hmmm is this really true? I've been listening to podcasts since 2012ish which puts me fairly early in the adoption curve and I've never used iTunes once (always been PocketCasts on Android).

Anyway, just another f'ing reason to NOT go all-in on Apple. Apple Podcasts kinda sucks? The few times I do use it as a directory to grab a link to send to a iOS-using friend, i just hate it. Search sucks, linking to a specific episode sucks, discoverability sucks.

I love my '22 M1 MBP I get from work, but it's the only Apple device I own. I just cannot stand this type of closed-system tactics, especially when their offering is so much worse than alternatives (don't get me started on iMessage or Safari)

>> They ARE the podcast industry. And they’ve been open. >Hmmm is this really true?

They’ve accounted for the vast majority of podcast listeners since the early iPod days. It’s literally why they are called podcasts. They only dipped below 50% of listeners relatively recently.

Wonder what they're called in the alternate universes? Zunecasts? (mp)3casts?

Netcast seems appropriate

Both podcasts and the term podcast predated Apple’s support of podcasts. The reason it was named as such was because iPods were the most popular listening device for podcasts.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

That's what I meant but you're right my comment could easily be interpreted differently, thanks.

The "pod" in "podcasts" stands for iPod.

They even C&D the original podcast app, because it was named iPodder.

"Apple Takes Podcasting Mainstream" in 2005.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/06/28Apple-Takes-Podcast...

> The "pod" in "podcasts" stands for iPod.

Yes, but it wasn't invented by Apple, but by a BBC Journalist, who had nothing to do with Apple.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p038m811

As per Wikipedia page:

The term "podcast" predates Apple's addition of podcasting features to the iPod and the iTunes software.

So the charitable interpretation is that they're trying to compete with Spotify's walled garden, by... doing the same thing themselves?

This also doesn't help them compete with Spotify anyway, since they use their own directory and hosting system. The only ones hurt here are third-party clients and end users. The ones you think they're trying to "protect".

If a podcast was only ever going to be available to people who paid, it means people using the Apple podcast app might still be able to get it if they can prevent an exclusivity deal.

If a podcast was available both free and paid, it will still be available for free. And maybe the paid option isn’t exclusive.

In either case, Spotify (or whoever) might not be stealing users and market share they could use to force things in their favor further.

I’m not arguing this is good. I don’t like the trend of “you can only listen to it in $APP”, and I would agree with some others those shouldn’t be called podcasts.

I’m just saying Apple isn’t starting the fight, they’re trying not to be caught flat-footed by all the others who were.

>If a podcast was only ever going to be available to people who paid, it means people using the Apple podcast app might still be able to get it if they can prevent an exclusivity deal.

I don't understand exactly what you are saying, but if you mean that they wanted to offer a way to publish paid content, that doesn't explain or justify why they would add DRM to all content uploaded, which is what the author is upset about.

"They let 3rd party clients use their directory for free."

But all the numerous other free directories, I doubt they are all sourced from Apple. The non-Apple podcast hosting services provide RSS feeds. Self-hosted podcasts usually provide RSS feeds. Anyone can use these feeds, not just Apple.

Personally I think Apple's directory, as accessed via www, is inferior to some of the alternatives. For example, it does not list all episodes, only the most recent ones.

If I want a definitive podcast index, I go to the source of podcasts for the RSS feeds or just .mp3 URLs, not to Apple. (Apple appears to prefer .m4a to .mp3)

Most podcasts are not hosted on Apple servers. Apple is just retrieving XML files from someone else.

I agree with this--however it was largely accidental. Apple supported open podcasting because that is all there was. I also agree that changes to Apple's podcast efforts for the worse are mostly about countering Spotify, which by the way is the real bad actor in closing down podcasts, by a country mile.

It sure would be nice though if instead of just praising podcasts as they have been, if there were open solutions to various problems open podcasts face that are not shared by closed ecosystems: There is still no good way to share a link or a clip for instance, unless the podcast app bakes its own (which will not work with other apps). There should be RSS syncing back-ends not tied to any one app as well.

> They ARE the podcast industry.

Huh. I never knew that Apple invented RSS feeds and hosting an mp3 file at a URL. Because that's all a podcast is.

This is the same set of excuses trotted out for why you can't use Firefox's Gecko engine with uBlock Origin on iOS.

Not exactly.

Apple has been basically been providing a public service with their free podcast directory since 2012.

There is nothing comparable in the case of the Safari on iOS situation.

>Apple has been basically been providing a public service with their free podcast directory since 2012.

that benefited them?

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