Paying To Be Locked In Is Not The Spirit Of Podcasting

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This weekend, I read a disheartening post on Reddit’s r/podcast group asking about downloading a podcast. Here it is:

“Do I need Spotify Premium to download podcasts for offline listening? Have a flight coming up and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this. Don’t really wanna shell out for a subscription if I can get away with the free version.”

This is one reason why Spotify’s finances love podcasting. The company can ingest an almost infinite stream of content that they do not have to pay even 0.003 cents per episode, and use that to not only retain listeners, but to also have those listeners pay a monthly fee to the company. It’s also unnecessary, as downloading is supported on free versions, but my point here is how Spotify is seen as the one and only app this user considered for podcasts.

Podcasting an open system, with the underlying RSS file pointing to the audio file you can download in the app or through a connection to the web. The file is just there for you to find and pull into any good podcasting app. I’d suggest Antenna for Android, Overcast for iPhone and iPad, and most podcast websites have a play button you can use in your browser. These will all have options to stream the audio, but downloading for offline listening is front and centre.

With so much media being pulled into content silos, all demanding a monthly payment, many are locked into a restriction of choice, decisions driven by advertising needs, and an automatic loss of privacy around their listening habits.

Podcasting remains a legitimate “one to many” that is accessible to all listeners and creators. It can stretch from hyper-niche topics to cultural juggernauts, and anyone can join in the ecosystem without permission from a Silicon Valley investor-focused panel. You don’t need to install “big audio” on your phone that is always running in the background.

I’d suggest to the Redditor that they export their OPML list of podcasts they subscribe to, so they can import it into any other podcast client. Except Spotify refuses to add the open source import/export function that almost everyone else uses.

What a surprise.