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Google Has A New Podcast App. It Also Hopes To Diversify Podcasting. (buzzfeed.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Google now has its own podcast app called, well, Google Podcasts, and if you have an Android phone, you can head over to the Play Store and get it right now. Google Podcasts does most things you would expect a podcast app to do. It lets you subscribe to and download podcasts; it learns from your listening history and suggests new ones you might like; and, if you're a podfaster, it lets you speed shows up. Most of these have been things you can already do right from within the Google app on your Android phone -- but now you get a shiny new app to do it with. For Google, the app represents an ambitious goal: to double worldwide podcast listenership. [...] Google is working with an independent global advisory board and industry experts to bring in more creators from underrepresented backgrounds such as women, people of color, and people from other countries into podcasting. Other players in the space such as Spotify and WNYC have already made efforts to spotlight these voices in the podcasting ecosystem. As part of this new program, Google will create curriculums to teach people podcasting basics, develop training programs, and also lower barriers to entry by helping out with equipment like microphones. Details about the program and specific plans to diversify outreach were not yet available. Google says it currently has no plans to release the podcast app to Apple's App Store.
I reach for my Jordan Peterson podcast.
Instead of just being in on the endpoint side, that the app also did the recording and mastering side as well. A nice, all-in-one solution. Now that I'd pay money for and use.
Otherwise, I have no reason to use this. I have an app and when it can grab the podcast, I can find it somewhere on the web. It's not hard. And I'd rather have recommendations from word of mouth over some algorithm telling me what I should like. I never know what new and interesting thing someone would tell me to listen to.
It's not "improve" podcasting, it's "diversify" podcasting.
If you want things to be better, you need to turn away from people who don't care about things being better.
In more ways than one, Google's rhetoric on Diversity rings hollow.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
I used to fully embrace all things Google, but that has all changed for myself. Podcasting is great, but you should probably try and avoid using Google's junk to produce them. Who knows what's baked into Google's podcasting app?
Can I just listen to what I want without the big Google diversity d$ck slapping me in the face all the time. I don't fucking care about your politics.
I'll stick with PocketCasts.
Not because I don't think Google can make a better product technologically - but because I don't want the software to suddenly change its policies and randomly do something I don't want because it has a chance of making Google some money.
I don't want to be listening to a carefully researched discussion touching on the tragedies of Nazi Germany, the suddenly have the next MP3 be Glenn Beck by association - then have all my adverts everywhere suddenly be pro-Trump propaganda.
Google is legitimately good for searching for things (Google scholar is great!), but living in a nation with 40+% Trump supporters has completely messed up the associations and logic behind targeted advertising - it's kind of made it poisonous along with the nation at large.
Ryan Fenton
And it no doubt censors content that Google management, their political cronies, or their specially trained AI disapprove of.
Thanks, but no thanks.
So if you're an older white male, your podcast doesn't reliably appear in lists? :)
... is that they also hope it helps train their conversational AI.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
It's a way to get more content, some of it unique to their platform. Find an under-utilized source of podcasts, or anything really, and develop it.
The same thing had some success on YouTube, before the great demonetization happened. I guess Google is working on the assumption that they can fix that.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I'm currently using Google Music to manage my podcasts. So should i stick with the old Google app that will be unceremoniously terminated by Google at some point in the future, or switch to the new Google app that will be unceremoniously terminated by Google at some point in the future?
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
an AI, global advisory board, industry experts to ensure diversity.
Remember when programs just had to do something well.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Turns out in order to subscribe to a podcast I have to allow Google to store all my App and Web Activity. BS.
Among all the two people who still own IPods.
Caution: Contents under pressure
If this is anything like other Google products you will end up just getting an app that pushes things you don't want while you're trying to get to the thing you want (I'm talking about you google play music...). I'll stick to Podcast Addict, cause I am tired of paying for things to advertise to me.
Then bring back Vine, goddamn it. It was very diverse, super accessible, and I miss it.
AC The AI detects and then ensures diversity will the search result.. reliably.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
its 2018. podcasting is so 90s. jesus.
Radio is so early 20th century, how is it still a thing? jesus.
Cars are so late 19th century, how are they still a thing? mohammed.
The US is so 18th century, how is it still a thing? budda.
Bread is so 4000 years ago, how is it still a thing? bael.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Downloading the application it appears one still cannot subscribe to arbitrary URLs and since not all podcasts are submitted to Google its still not a viable solution. The application looks pretty but I can't see why one would use it over podcasts in Google Play Music which also works on the web - this feels more like internal political infighting spilling out again.
I don't think an app could do a really good job of curating podcasts, and also help you create them... those seem like two very different apps to me.
What does seem more useful is a set of apps, one for listening, one for creation, where you can basically "beta test" your podcast quickly in the listening app as if it were a published podcast, so you'd get exactly the experience your listeners will have before you publish.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm glad that when Google releases an app we get a Slashdot story with five links to buzzfeed. Sure, that makes sense.
It's a way to get more content, some of it unique to their platform. Find an under-utilized source of podcasts, or anything really, and develop it.
But why are they under-utilized? The barriers to entry to making a podcast are practically non-existent. Yes TFS implies assisting people by getting them a mic if they don't have one, but if you have a phone then you have a mic. I just find it really hard to believe that there is anyone who wants to do a podcast but isn't because they don't have the equipment.
Look, I get it. You see a population imbalance, and you automatically assume it's because of discrimination. But at some point you have to accept that maybe there is no discrimination going on. You've led the horse to water, you've shoved it's face right up against the surface, you've splashed the water in its face, just accept that it doesn't want to drink. Dragging the horse kicking and neighing into the water and holding its head underneath is only going to result in you drowning the horse.
I've been waiting for non-white non-males to say "um" a lot for a LONG time now!
Hey, some of them may be in a situation similar to mine. We want to make a podcast, but are too lazy.
It would be interesting to see how an AI does this. I suppose that you could perform an analysis on the voice to determine sex and where a person is generally from. Certain dialects are much more likely to be found in specific ethnic groups, so you could probably infer race as well. Wouldn't such a system naturally drive people to culturally appropriate ethnic mannerisms (worse yet, it would probably mean that overexaggerating unique aspects of a dialect yields a better score) in order improve their rankings though? Is Google encouraging cultural appropriation? The shame!
Realistically if Google makes it more difficult for users to find what they want, people will just go elsewhere. If I want a steak and someone keeps trying to sell me a veggie burger, I'm eventually just going to go eat elsewhere.
It was so full of Latinx and South Americans, that it was "too diverse" for Google!
It's simpler than that. People in certain groups will learn adding keywords will get their podcast moved up the rankings.
If you want podcasts to be more "diverse," than you should probably avoid suggesting podcasts that fit in the same small bubble. Of course, it's generally more profitable for a service to tell you what you like to hear, as opposed to exposing your to uncomfortable worldviews.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
video killed the radio star.
shared transport is killing the car.
the country is so fractured that the US probably has another decade before shattering.
bread is bad for you. seriously. even whole grain hand made artisan bread baked with dung.
They will just manually compile a list of non-white, non-male things, and rank them by how many diversity bubbles they check, then use that INSTEAD OF quality, feedback, and poularity to inject it into your search results.
When you search for a podcast and get something by a "minority", rest assured it reached that point via programmatic tomfoolery instead of merit.
Oh-a-aho oh.
Give it 6 months and it'll be just another one in the long list of services Google quietly kill off.
I love it. An equal opportunity curse post. Not sure saying buuudda has the same ring.
Most podcasts come off as patronizing and self-important, like audio twitter. I usually don't care about a random person's opinion on the days events. I'm not sure making them even easier to produce is a worthy goal.
What does Google know about diversity? Sounds like they should tune in themselves.
How does that help with diversity at all. If everyone claims to be a black lesbian midget in the metadata then it becomes useless. It's the same kind of SEO crap that's been plaguing the web. If you're using content-based keywords, I fail to see how that does anything for diversity either unless you believe that there are some things that men won't talk about or that white people don't discuss. But even if you do believe that, it doesn't mean that pushing more of that content means that anyone actually wants to consume it.
Early Android podcasts listeners may recall Google Listen, a podcast playback app. They deprecated that, so I moved to BeyondPod. I also recall the loss of Google Reader and having to move elsewhere for that. Aside fro core apps (email/Calendar) I have a hard time taking up a new Google tool and becoming reliant on it knowing Google giveth and Google taketh away.
Yes, podcasting... a portmanteau of "broadcast" and "iPod" is a 90s thing, when the iPod itself didn't even exist until 2001.
I'm open to switching players. Doggcatcher has this annoying habit of just up and starting playing every now and then. At least it did; I haven't seen that happen in a while. Maybe a recent update fixed it. Hugely annoying when I've got a bunch of podcasts queued in the order I want to listen to them, "Hey, is that a voice coming from my phone? ARGH! It's been playing for three hours and lost my whole queue!!"
Again... hasn't happened in a while; maybe it's fixed.
Other than that, I like Doggcatcher a lot, and I'm used to it. I make heavy use of the 2x playback speed, and on a few podcasts, I wish I could push it a bit higher. Can the Google podcast player do that?
So why would I switch? Here's one check in the "No Way In HELL" column: "Downloading the application it appears one still cannot subscribe to arbitrary URLs and since not all podcasts are submitted to Google ..."
Next!
By the very nature of podcasts they are open and available to literally anybody who wants to make one. The only barriers to entry are very basic technological ones and bandwidth to upload it with. I could literally make a reasonable podcasts that I could upload to the modern web on a Pentium 75 using no hardware components made after 1998 and I might even be able to get away with audio codecs from that era as well. I remember playing with MP3 for the first time in 1998, so that would work. If I wanted I could even upload that 1998 tech MP3 with an analog modem from the era, the server I uploaded it to would do all of the distribution work.
My point:
Why are we trying to arm-twist people who don't want to make podcasts into podcasting? I see it like I see the modern push for women in STEM - clubbing them over the head and trying to drag them into learning and doing things they're not interested in.
I've noticed that women stereo typically prefer something other than a sit in a chair and make a radio-style podcast format. Diamond and Silk are the first examples that spring into my mind. They produce lots of regular content, and it's their own style of commentary, but they tend to do video based content. Julie Borowski, again, lots of content, almost all video, and very high-quality self edited videos at that.
Instead of trying to force these very talented square pegs into round holes why don't they develop a new type of app that appeals to the way women commonly like to send out their message - in video?
I've covered women - yes I'm hetero white male giving commentary on what I've observed - rocks are to the right torches are to the left and pitchforks are available at the tractor supply store two blocks away. As for minorities - diversifying that way - I have no real input. If they're culturally American I don't consider them much different that I see myself or my friends or family. If they're culturally something else - well once again - Google is trying to claw their way into other cultures and beat the idea of making podcasts into their heads if their culture doesn't embrace it. Just make the tools available, offer help when asked, and continue to make the tools easier to use to increase accessibility on that front. You know, maybe try to invent something other than the modern podcast to appeal to people who don't like to podcast.
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"It Also Hopes To Control the Podcasting Media"
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
they will grow the service until it has a healthy user population, then mercilessly kill it like they have done countless other services.
No way will I touch google's podcast app. AntennaPod is a good open-source podcast app that is on Play and F-Droid. It does what a podcast app should do, i.e. playing recorded audio and not spreading diversity crap.
It's a way to get more content, some of it unique to their platform. Find an under-utilized source of podcasts, or anything really, and develop it.
The same thing had some success on YouTube, before the great demonetization happened. I guess Google is working on the assumption that they can fix that.
Google runs YouTube. Among other things that make the recently demonitized videos list is my SO's coming out story and history of why we celebrate Pride Day, with...no sign whatsoever which part they found objectionable so let's go with 'general LGBT* content.' My SO has taken the video down, because, to quote my SO, "I didn't need that crap."
If they really mean to fix that, maybe they ought to fix YouTube so we're not going "Yeeeeah, you just are using us...again."
Why did you assume it was due to discrimination? I didn't even mention it...
Why do most ACs assume everything is because of discrimination?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Probably because it's your modus operandi?
Crappy-shitty-ridiculous hair styles have been around since like forever, how is it still a thing in 2018? thor
Your phone mic is not a good mic for a podcast, especially if you want to get other people involved.
By deranking search results the AI makes room for a diversity of voices?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Forget all the normal Google snooping on my data hate. Google did podcasts before it was called Google listen, it was amazing and let you pick up from where you were on multiple devices eg pause podcast on your phone and start listening to the podcast on your PC exactly where you were. But in typical tech company style they got bored and killed it. Which annoyed the hell out of me and there is no way that I am trusting them valuable podcast list and where I am up to.
I would hope that it is as good as the previous Google Podcast app.
However, I suspect that it will be more complicated and harder to use than Google Listen which Google happily dropped for no good reason that I ever heard. With that history, potential users should be wary...
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.