Basically, it looks like you can not rely on Google products. They could be discontinued at any time in the future. It makes me a lot less interested to try new products from Google at this point.
There's a similar problem with Netflix. They are so cancel-happy with shows if the numbers aren't hit worthy, that it caused people to avoid new Netflix shows (why invest in something that'll probably get cancelled), causing a negative feedback loop.
Sickening. Podcasts are a simple RSS-based mechanism that points to sound files. The whole point of them is that you can find them "wherever you get your podcasts", no feudal lord has a monopoly over them, no company controls the distribution (despite efforts by Spotify, Audible and others to incorrectly use the word "podcast" for some of their exclusive content). YouTube Music isn't an appropriate substitute, just a way of injecting additional ads and sucking more data in.
This seems like an upstream concern with distribution, no?
Nothing in this announcement indicates YouTube Music will attempt to control distribution. YouTube might give exclusive content a try (a la Spotify), but — to your point — that won't be a "podcast" in the strict client-agnostic-syndication sense.
As long as podcast creators are publishing mp3s to RSS/Atom feeds, YouTube Music is just another podcast client (like Google Podcasts was) which you're free to avoid.
> YouTube Music is just another podcast client (like Google Podcasts was) which you're free to avoid.
My partner uses Google Podcasts because it was preinstalled. The vast majority of folks don't know that they have a choice, let alone that they should find/choose an app. Hell, that's really the only reason Apple Podcasts has any traction: it came preinstalled.
"Normal" people don't know what an RSS feed is, they don't care, and they don't want to learn. They just want to listen to podcasts.
I don't understand how this pertains to my comment. Nobody's arguing whether listeners will, as a matter of preference, avoid Google/Apple/Spotify podcast clients. Nobody makes a claim about how many people know of RSS.
It's up to the podcast producers to decide for/against distributor-exclusivity, determining whether OC has to use YouTube Music.
> The vast majority of folks don't know that they have a choice, let alone that they should find/choose an app.
That's... fine. What matters is whether they do have a choice if they go looking for one — again, that's up to podcasters, not up to Google.
The websites for podcasts often seen to hide the RSS feed/mp3 files while having giant buttons all over the place for Apple podcasts and spotify. They feed their listeners to those platforms on a platter.
Yes, but if you search for the podcast by name with your favorite podcast app, it will be found. Unless it is a fake podcast (like a Spotify exclusive).
Agreed, but I suspect that a lot of them who already use Google Podcasts won't be thrilled to have to switch to YouTube Music and may be looking around for choices when the date of cancellation gets closer.
I was pretty happy with AntennaPod until I gave up on Android.
It's open source, and compares favorably to Apple Podcasts. It's difficult to discover unless you look on F-Droid. Presumably the paid / adware options have bigger marketing budgets.
I suspect that's an Android problem, as I have playback randomly stop in the middle of an episode both on AntennaPod and using mpv from Termux. I suspect Java/JVM memory shenanigans, but have no insight into specifically what's happening.
Google hasn't released many products appealing to consumers since 2015, with the exception of hardware and incremental Android work. Google's ground-breaking days are over. Search, AdWords, Image Search, Gmail, Maps, NASA partnership + Earth + Moon and Mars maps, YouTube, Chrome, Translate, Suite/Workspace, Android OS, Drive, Docs, Google+, Chromecast, Photos - all the exciting stuff happened before the Alphabet transformation in '15. We haven't had almost any new iconic Google apps since.
Likewise. I ran my own MTAs for 17 years and there's nothing I want that Fastmail doesn't do - and a good bit I do that would've been (was!) at best time prohibitive to set up and run for myself.
I used Google Music heavily -- so much that my local music collection fell into disrepair. When they killed it, I downloaded everything using Takeout. Years later, I'm still dealing with the mess of metadata and (lack of) folder hierarchy that my collection used to have.
My de-Googleification of my life is nearly complete. I just wish I had done it earlier.
I've been using Hey since it was released. It's fine, but if I was going to make the switch today instead, I'd choose Fastmail or Proton instead. I use Fastmail for my business and it's been quite good. Proton conceptually feels like a better choice, but users with Proton-domain emails cause a ton of headaches (fraud, etc.) at work, so I'd probably give them a pass unless you use a custom domain.
> So they are going the way of Spotify and combining music and podcasts into the same place.
They had this. It was Google Play Music, and they added podcasts to it in 2015 (Spotify didn't open podcasting to all users until 2018). Google then split it into YouTube Music and Google Podcasts.
And let's not forget iTunes, which had both music and podcasts a year before Spotify was even founded.
In one respect this consolidation makes more sense than the Play Music → YouTube Music switch: many podcasts cross-post episodes as YouTube videos and audio-only feeds.
If YouTube collates those feeds and lets users select between modes while maintaining a unified "already watched/listened" list... hey, that reflects how podcasts distribute/monetize in practice.
The YouTube Music app was a dismal replacement for Google Music, and never regained features for managing one's own library of uploads. Of course, that's not a problem for podcasts; episodes are already syndicated.
I think this is it, I'm just going to start the de-googling process. I'm sick of having to change apps because this company can't agree on a direction.
I like Google Podcasts the most because it's a simple app, offering only podcasts, with mobile & web interfaces, and progress sync between them.
I mostly use Spotify for my music needs, so I will probably migrate there, but the last time I tried, experience was not so great for listening podcasts.
This is the 2nd time this week that I am posting about Google doing something like this. After totally destroying developer trust they are also rapidly eroding consumer trust.
Can someone from Google (or anyone) steelman how killing off so many product like this is smart?
I don't see any broad refocus in the company and their core products suck more now than ever. Even if they are more profitable I don't think thats because they redeployed talent and focus there.
Did they cut headcount too much to maintain this stuff?
Am I really misunderstanding how much a service like this costs to operate, even for Google?
I really am curious what the anti-cynical take is. I know what the cynics say, I am one. What am I missing where Sundar or management (smart people) look at these cases and do this?
At the end of the day, Google is an advertising company and every other service they offer is just transient experimentation to either harvest more information on its subjects or for no reason at all.
There's no way to explain their motivations. Just have to get out of dodge.
I almost never used it, but I admired the simple interface and the lightweight controls. That giant sucking sound you hear is YouTube hoovering up all that is true and good in the world, and shitting it out on Cory Doctorow's self-driveway.
Okay this is a tangent, but I've got a rate-limited comment budget.
YouTube has ruined my life. I can pretend I'm amused and cool with my Google accounts and how nicely they treat me, but YouTube is a giant social media black hole that rips out my heart and shows it to me before putting it back in again.
My final teevee broke, over 8 years ago, and I was relieved to be rid of that monstrosity we know as OTA broadcast. I swore I'd never watch teevee again, and I was prepared to be mentally healthy. YouTube destroyed every last ounce of fortitude I had.
I used to have a nice UBO setup and blocked all YT ads. Of course I eventually just had to let'em all roll. So I watch less toxic influencers and more nonconsensual trash scams. I share YT links with my non-Google friends. I post YT links at work. I post YT all over HN. Everyone is sick of my videos, especially me.
Glad I moved over to Amazon Music to listen to a few without commercials.
When I switched from Android to iPhone I was infuriated that Bluetooth track controls for Google Podcasts didn’t map correctly. Pressing skip on my car steering wheel would jump to the next podcast instead of advancing a few seconds.
This situation is disheartening because it's a fantastic product that I utilize daily. It even had a handy feature to skip silence. Does anyone know of any Android alternatives with that feature?
Google, I implore you not to kill Gmail, Search, Chrome, or Google Drive/Docs.
I opened YouTube music app, for which I pay premium and tried to find the podcasts I listen to. I wasn't able to find any filter for podcasts and neither did search yield the podcasts I listen to via Google Podcasts. FFS Google.
Oh? I've had trouble with Overcast. It often exits when I launch it, usually this happens after I haven't used the app for a few days. The app works when I launch it a second time. When it works, it takes a long time, e.g., a full minute before the app is ready to accept input and start a podcast. I haven't taken the time to look at it closely or request support. There's plenty of storage available, so it's not a "disc full" error in disguise. I've gone back to the Apple iOS app.
My use case is a few regular podcasts, and many (~100) podcasts where I listen to only one episode. I like to keep the infrequently accessed podcasts around so I can remember what I listened to, and in case there's another episode I want.
Also it doesn't sync with iCloud, but maybe that's been added?
