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> no thanks, Podcasts are terrible. If I wanted to hear idiots laughing at each other I'd listen to the Radio DJs

When you inject personal opinions like this which are obviously at odds with millions of other people, it's difficult to take the rest of the comment seriously.

It's at odds with millions of people but also in agreement with millions of others. I also don't listen to podcasts for the same reason. Spotify shouldn't push something that so many people detest without letting them opt out.

I don't know if you think this opinion (expressed in this way) makes you seem insightful, but just so you know, it just makes you seem uninformed. It's like saying "Listen to music? No thanks, I don't want to listen to a guy in makeup screaming about satanism into a microphone". Like, yes, that type of music does exist, but it's uninformed to make the claim that that's all music is.

It is not uninformed to say that podcasts are worse than articles, books, and audiobooks on the same subjects. I know. I've tried. I'm informed.

It is uninformed to say that podcasts are "idiots laughing at each other".

It is also uninformed to say that they aren't. You're being pedantic. You know what muppetman meant.

Weird take. I don’t know anyone who detests podcasts. They just don’t listen to them.

Having such strong feelings about something you can just ignore is unhealthy.

FWIW, I cancelled Spotify last year and their focus on podcasts was one of the reasons. But there are plenty of other services that cater to music lovers so I just increased my bandcamp spend and moved on with my life.

I don't think there's evidence for this. While listening to podcasts is evidence of liking them, not listening to podcasts isn't evidence for detesting them.

Spotify has over 640 million active users. Of those, 100 million are active podcast listeners, despite having an app they frequently use that lets them listen to podcasts. This suggests that many of Spotify's users hate podcasts as much as they hate the wacky morning DJs who say democracy's a joke.

Zero could hate them and they wouldn't all listen to them. I don't hate podcasts and I've never listened to one on Spotify.

I didn't say that all 540 million hate podcasts. I said that many do. It doesn't take a very large fraction of 540 million to get millions that hate podcasts.

Well, you said "many of". I thought you meant "a significant fraction of", not "at least a tiny fraction of".

I said millions of people. Millions of people is many. I have been consistent. You're living in a bubble.

It's not many out of 100 million. 4% would not be many out of the total. That's why I said: I thought you meant "a significant fraction of", not "at least a tiny fraction of".

You meant "at least a tiny fraction of". That's all. When you say "many", we should read "at least a tiny fraction of".

> You're living in a bubble.

This is a bit of a strange comment.

> This is a bit of a strange comment.

You refuse to believe that millions of people hate podcasts, to the point that you apparently need a survey with millions of people saying that as evidence. You live in a bubble of people who haven't told you they hate morning DJs and podcasts. If I instead told you that millions of people detest vlogs, would you also require hard evidence?

> You refuse to believe that millions of people hate podcasts

If you read what I wrote, you'll see I never said that. I don't know why you think it's worth replying to something other than what I wrote.

"I don't think there's evidence for this," in response to my statement that millions of people hate podcasts. You might forgive most readers for understanding that to mean that you don't think millions of people hate podcasts.

I responded to something you wrote. Maybe I didn't respond to what you meant to write, but the solution to that is for you to write what you meant.

Unless I'm missing something, the opt-out is one click away. I don't understand the problem.

Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/2tLoFkQ

If I have to opt-out everytime I open the app, that's not really an opt-out, that's a temporary fix at best.

Fair point.

>no thanks, Podcasts are terrible. If I wanted to hear idiots laughing at each other I'd listen to the Radio DJs

I agree this format of podcast is terrible, but there are many podcasts that are more like one or a couple of people each giving a presentation and I enjoy them a lot.

Ukraine the Latest by The Telegraph and The History of Rome by Mike Duncan are ones I particularly enjoyed.

Hardcore History has not been as productive lately but the back catalogue is incredible. Makes a 6 hour drive feel like nothing at all. I know some people don't like Dan Carlin, but I really enjoy the long-form historical storytelling style.

I actually really like podcasts but never wanted my music app forcing theirs above links to actual music, or inserting extra ads into episodes that I could listen to from other sources. Their rollout of podcasts made me make a point to never, ever listen to a podcast on Spotify.

> Bitwarden, one of my beloved apps, has done the same with a god-awful UI redesign.

+1. Given it's open source I'm tempted to revert to the older one, though it will probably stop working over time as other things change :(

The Bitwarden API is well-documented. There is a popular alternate implementation of the server, and there are alternate client implementations like https://github.com/AChep/keyguard-app.

> The "X person/people talking taking 2 hours to discuss something that could be discussed succinctly in 5 minutes" isn't a format I'm interested in.

Yeah same for me too. The only podcasts I can bear are monologues, when there's more than one people at least they're each talking to me not to each other. Things like Hardcore History, Anthropocene Reviewed, and most of 99% Invisible.

Terrible music? You know you choose what you listen to, right?