Google Podcasts was an Android app for subscribing and listening to podcasts.
Google announced its demise last year, and nowthe end has come.
Instead, Google has put podcasts inside YouTube Music.
Creating a podcast.ConvertKit / Unsplash
“YouTube is a great second platform for podcasts.
But it is not a podcast platform,” podcaster and technology bloggerGraham Bowertold Lifewire via direct message.
Podcast Confusion
First, what is a podcast exactly?
Editing audio for a podcast.Kelly Sikkema / Unsplash
The technical definition is pretty narrow and straightforward.
A podcast is an audio or video file delivered viaan RSS feed.
But the word “podcast” has come to mean any episodic audio or video on the internet.
For users, the demise of Google Podcasts isn’t really a big deal.
There are plenty ofother podcast apps available.
Real Simple
To see why, let’s consider another Google pump-and-dump scheme: Google Reader.
Many users probably just thought they could no longer follow those blogs.
Why did Google do this?
I suggest it was for the same reason it has ditched its podcast app.
RSS, in the form of blogs or podcasts, is impossible to track.
The publisher of the podcast knows that an app has downloaded an episode, but that’s it.
Which is probably why Google didn’t like RSS btw,“writes RSS inventor Dave Wineron Mastodon.
Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives.
One is to import your podcast list into YouTube.
Just do yourself a favorlook into other options that aren’t YouTube.
And the good news doesn’t end there:Blogging is also back, baby!
So why not take a look atsome RSS feed readers?
