Pocket Casts, the podcast app acquired by Automattic in 2021, is now making its net participant free. The corporate says the transfer provides a substitute for the massive platforms’ closed ecosystems, the place algorithmic-driven content material is prioritized and podcasts are stored behind paywalls.
Podcasts have been constructed on open expertise — the open, decentralized normal RSS, which was designed to make on-line audio in addition to different content material, like information and weblog posts — out there to anybody on the net free of charge. Beginning Tuesday, Pocket Casts will honor the open nature of podcasts by making its net participant free to make use of.
Which means anybody can go to the Pocket Casts web site and stream any episode they need, with out having to pay a subscription payment and even creating an account.
Nevertheless, if customers wish to personalize their expertise, they will create a free account to unlock options like syncing playback throughout net, cellular, and desktop gadgets; managing their queue; and saving their subscriptions and different preferences.
In the meantime, the corporate’s Pocket Casts Plus paid subscription will supply options that give customers extra management over their listening expertise, together with entry to instruments and options like folders, good shuffle, bookmarks, wearable and cloud help, further themes and icons, and extra.
The corporate additionally notes that AI-powered discovery is just not part of its providing.
As an alternative of offering customers with algorithmic-driven podcast options, Pocket Casts needs customers to resolve for themselves what they wish to hearken to. This message might enchantment to individuals who assume that Spotify has gotten too pushy with its personal suggestions, making it troublesome for customers to maintain up with the reveals they really wished to observe.
Assist free of charge streaming on the net might additionally assist the corporate problem Apple Podcasts, which rolled out web streaming in August 2024.
Free streaming is coming to Pocket Casts’ Mac and Home windows apps, as nicely, as part of this replace.
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