Google Play Music To Add Podcast Support on April 18, Says Report

An anonymous reader writes: Google Play Music could add a hub for podcasts on Monday, April 18. The speculation comes as news outlets spotted a leaked NPR email member-only newsletter which claims that the company 'worked with Google to ensure that public radio is represented in the Google Play environment' and reveals the launch date. Google announced plans to add podcasts to Google Play Music app in October last year. It's a welcome move -- whenever it actually happens. Google, unlike Apple and Microsoft, as of today doesn't offer any built-in app in its mobile operating system which could allow users to subscribe and listen to their favorite podcasts. And podcasts are increasingly becoming popular.

Comments

This explains all the "podcast" apps on Songza

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

In the last couple of weeks Google has been spamming Songza users (or Google Play, is it now) with ads about this or that crappy podcast ("about tech and people [requisite "mistake" and giggle]). Hey Google, if I wanted to listen to podcasts at work...I'd be listening to podcasts, ya' know?

Re:This explains all the "podcast" apps on Songza

[stephanruby]

When Google discontinued Songza. I stopped using Songza. Google Play Music doesn't really replicate the simplicity of Songza.

It's a welcome move -- whenever it actually happens. Google, unlike Apple and Microsoft, as of today doesn't offer any built-in app in its mobile operating system which could allow users to subscribe and listen to their favorite podcasts.

Why would it be a welcome move? There are perfectly valid free podcast listening apps on Android. The worst that could happen is that Google buys out those podcasting apps, discontinues them, and replaces them with something half as good, like it did with Songza.

This move is not demand-driven, I can assure you. No one is asking Google to meddle with Podcasting. They can compete with podcasting apps if they want, but my worry is that they'll take the shortcut of buying out the competition before their own offerings get good enough.

remember google listen?

[Anonymous Coward]

it's about time google added this functionality back in to android

Re:remember google listen?

[cmiller173]

The question is, will the Google Play Music app have features useful for podcasts? Some podcasts it really doesn't matter what order you listen to episodes in, current events type things like Tech News Today or music podcasts like AMPed New Music Weekly. Others like Serial or Hardcore History or other episodic long form podcasts should be listened to in a particular order, oldest first. Seems like it would take awhile for Google to get it's app as feature rich as many of the already available podcast players. I wish them luck though.

Re:remember google listen?

[Anonymous Coward]

functionality they will probably abandon in 2 years, we are talking about Google here...

Welcome move for google.

[Altus]

if it were Apple doing this, instead of a "Welcome move" it would be a blatant attempt to kill of existing podcast apps.

Re: Welcome move for google.

[bill_mcgonigle]

Apple has that "you can't compete with us" problem. Google could very well raise awareness of podcasts well enough that BeyondPod and others get a boost. If it helps kill off the MSM, it's a good move.

Re:Welcome move for google.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the difference between coming to play in an arena or showing up and sending everyone else home. Google isn't likely to start pulling competing apps.

And for what its worth Googer Reader used to have podcast support they just killed it without a replacement. Not that there's any shortage of Podcast apps available for Android. I used to use DoggCatcher which was pretty good but these days I'm using PocketCasts which I like as well (mainly because it has a web interface so I can listen on the desktop and keep my read/unread marks synced). I can't imagine a stock app improving on those much.

Re:Welcome move for google.

[CohibaVancouver]

I'm using PocketCasts which I like as well

Second vote for PocketCasts. It's a pretty cool little app that works well.

Re:Welcome move for google.

[squiggleslash]

iTunes has had podcast support for... as long as I remember, at least five years, probably over a decade.

BTW there's a reason they're called "Podcasts".

Google is shit

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet Blackhole real creator is working on Google right now, using another tool to invade privacy and fuck other people's lives.

Gapless Playback

[Anonymous Coward]

Still waiting for it in 2016.

No one remebers Google Listen?

[LWATCDR]

Google had a podcasting app for android called Listen years ago. That and MyTracks are two of Google apps I wish they had not killed.

Re:No one remebers Google Listen?

[ThatsNotPudding]

But it had fatal flaws: not nearly enough real-time tracking nor a robust advertising bot.

Re:No one remebers Google Listen?

[Mike Van Pelt]

This. Google might announce that they're discontinuing Google Play next month.

Fuck Google Play Music

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck Google Play Music. Fuck it to hell. Once they decided they wanted people to use their subscription model, they made the experience a nightmare for those of us who just buy their music the traditional way. Every screen is like a series of landmines. Any wrong click anywhere in the screen and a 30 second ad immediately launches, and this is just to play the music that I already own.

Re:Fuck Google Play Music

[Anonymous Coward]

Google Play Music doesn't even work unless you use Chrome. I've tried to load it up in Opera, Firefox and Pale Moon and it's just a blank page.

In short, it's complete garbage. What's the point in having a music web site when it requires a specific browser to work?

People still watch podcasts?

[BarbaraHudson]

I figured that by now podcasts would have gone the way of the dodo, same as powerpoint - 4x as long to express half the content, badly.

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[cmiller173]

I generally listen to audio only podcasts, and only while driving on my commute. The few times I watched a video podcast I cast it to the chromecast on my office TV.

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[drinkypoo]

I figured that by now podcasts would have gone the way of the dodo, same as powerpoint - 4x as long to express half the content, badly.

There is nowhere else to get a lot of this content. Most of the insights I bring here from the automotive world come from one show (which is also podcast) which hosts big names from the industry. I skip their dailies but I watch (or just listen to) their weekly and monthly broadcasts.

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[Anonymous Coward]

A lot of podcasts now upload to YouTube. There's a lot of traffic there so it helps them out.

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[Darinbob]

What else do you listen to in the car?

I don't need it on android, I don't listen to music on a phone. So itunes on my pc is fine, then I sync it to the ipod and the ipod goes back in the car's glove box for a few weeks.

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[BarbaraHudson]

What else do you listen to in the car?

I don't need it on android, I don't listen to music on a phone. So itunes on my pc is fine, then I sync it to the ipod and the ipod goes back in the car's glove box for a few weeks.

There's this thing called a radio ...

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[Darinbob]

When the radio gets boring, and it often does, I can use the podcasts. Plus the podcast is the only way to time shift listening to the NPR shows I like.
But radio... isn't that even more out of data and dusty than podcasts?

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[LWATCDR]

Funny but I can not find any good tech shows on radio during my commute time.

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[BarbaraHudson]

The radio plays music, same as a smartphone does. But since I can't drive any more, I end up talking with whoever is doing the driving. And conversation is even more out of date, but it works for me.

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[BarbaraHudson]

There's such a thing as a "GOOD" tech show? :-)

If it were really good, you'd have to pay too much attention to it to be a safe driver, same as texting while driving or other distractions.

Re:People still watch podcasts?

[squiggleslash]

They're still here, and a sizable number of Youtube channels are podcasts in all but the name. I don't understand the popularity either given the number of cases I've tried to listen to the latter, with the first minute being occupied with nothing but "Uh, so, uh, welcome to, uh, another episode of the, uh..."

If only Google had an RSS reader all along

[Anonymous Coward]

Google had a great RSS reader, but they discontinued it because it only had half a million active users.

Killed Play Music subscription yesterday.

[Anonymous Coward]

I just killed Play Music subscription yesterday.

Bought a chromebook a few months ago. Came with some play music, play movies and storage, so I signed up.

But I'm not a fan of "cloud" anything and avoid it. To me, the term "cloud" means "on someone else's computer" and it is inconvenient. I tried to use the movie thing - it was too complicated. Tried to use the music thing - felt like I was dealing with a cassette tape solution with only 1 tape. It sucked. Couldn't find anything I liked and playback stuttered.

I'd tried the Android "Listen" app - it behaved like a virus and wouldn't stop. Every time I inserted headphones, it would start up playing something. I wanted local music to play, NEVER streamed. I don't have a data plan, so paying by the byte costs me money. Damn you google! Finally had to disable the app in the settings and prevent automatic starting. Also removed it, but couldn't remove the default version that comes with Android. I will never use Listen again. I do listen to music and podcast on my android device multiple times a week. I do NOT use many google apps on android. They already know too much about me due to all the spying that google performs without my expressed consent thanks to all those idiots using gmail.

I won't use twitter or facebook, but email is harder to avoid and it isn't always clear who is using gmail via google-apps accounts. It amazes me how many people don't care about all the spying happening on the internet. Google isn't all evil, but there is much evil embedded in almost everything they do, sadly.