> Pocket Casts is an enormous opportunity to improve discovery for listeners, provide podcast producers with better insights
Translation: we're going to start tracking listeners' behavior.
> And yet despite this remarkable renaissance, the listening experience — particularly around discovery — has remained virtually unchanged. Pocket Casts will enable us to forge a closer relationship with our listeners
Translation: the podcast ecosystem being built on open, decentralized standards limits what we can do (see above), so we're going to use the market position we just acquired to "extend" it with proprietary features.
Cynical fatalism plays better when the supposed perpetrator isn't NPR. Speaking of organizations I would trust with my personal info, it's hard to think of any better.
How could you possibly know pocketcasts never tracked anything? I am a pocketcasts user and I'd be surprised if they weren't tracking my usage of the app.
From their privacy policy, they at a minimum track what you subscribe to:
What information do you collect about me?
Your username in the form of an email address, and password;
Your podcast subscriptions, episode data and settings configuration;
Your unique device identifier, device language and licence validation data;
Pocket Casts web service also uses cookies and like technologies to keep you logged in.
Should you choose to generate a support request from within the Service, we may generate an attachment containing additional data to assist in addressing your support request which you’re welcome to view prior to submission.
I think you are exactly right. NPR pushed NPR One in order to track users. It failed miserably. So now the plan is to join with other big networks and buy a successful podcast app to then try again. It will likely degrade Pocket Casts and I am disappointed with this news.
NPR One currently has twice as many installs than Pocket Casts on Android, and it's inclusion of podcasts seems secondary to listening to live radio or recent news stories. That being their plan seems unlikely.
If you're so concerned about a 'podcast ecosystem being built on open, decentralized standards limits' then why are you even talking about a proprietary app in the first place? You're trying to set up a strawman here that you yourself say that you don't agree with.
Just tell people to use a FOSS podcast app like Antennapod and to avoid closed silo listings and move on.
I'm not sure what you're getting at. It's the underlying protocols that are open and decentralized here (RSS/Atom). An app doesn't have to be FOSS to participate in that ecosystem, and the nature of the protocols as they stand ensure Antennapod, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or what have you are all on equal footing with regard to accessing content. Compare to the DRM-encumbered, monolithic-platform-dominated state of other media like movies/TV.
This is the exact opposite of what Marco just did with the recent release of Overcast. They even spoke about it on Accidental Tech Podcast this week. He's actively working against allowing people to track podcast listeners more than what they can get from straight HTTP downloads of their shows.
Translation: we're going to start tracking listeners' behavior.
> And yet despite this remarkable renaissance, the listening experience — particularly around discovery — has remained virtually unchanged. Pocket Casts will enable us to forge a closer relationship with our listeners
Translation: the podcast ecosystem being built on open, decentralized standards limits what we can do (see above), so we're going to use the market position we just acquired to "extend" it with proprietary features.