NEWSLETTER
In a rare recent example of a product that becomes more affordable (instead of moving at full speed in the opposite direction), the popular podcast pocket no longer require a subscription to access their web player and desktop applications. Although premium levels are still there for some payment features, the only platforms on which you cannot listen to free now are smart watches without an related phone, a niche inside a niche, if there was ever one.
Before Tuesday's announcement, you can listen for free in Android and Pocket applications, but its web player and desktop applications required a premium subscription from $ 4 per month or $ 40 annually. Now, you can consult with your favorite podcasters on your MAC or PC without paying a penny. Although I could do that in free alternatives such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Music, Pocket Casts enthusiasts (including some Engadget employees) swore for their clean user interface, silence cuts and characteristics of voice impulse and queue management.
The automatic property service framed the movement as standing for open podcasting that is for free for anyone, everywhere. “By making our web player available for everyone, we are reinforcing our belief that podcasts belong to people, not to corporations,” the brand wrote In its advertisement.
That is a noble feeling, and we would love to see what more companies adopt. But if we read (perhaps a bit cynically) between lines, YouTube announced last month that approved one billion monthly active podcast spectators, with third -party data. demonstration Which is the most popular podcast service in the United States. When combined with the recent incorporation of Apple of a web player for its free podcast service, perhaps the pocket cast realized that it was limited to a decreasing piece of the cake by making everything outside everything except its mobile applications.
As is, Pocket Casts expects her Subscription The characteristics will attract some people to throw a few dollars in their own way. The Plus level adds (deep inhalation) a combat feature, markers, the ability to show chapters, 20 GB of cloud storage, watchos and wear OS applications (which you can still use for free while the content is transmitted from your phone) and other sweets such as themes, icons and a year of Smumber Studios content. Meanwhile, the employer level offers all that early access to the characteristics, 100 GB of cloud storage, additional icons and the most important of all, a profile badge.
Pocket Casts Plus will cost you $ 4 per month or $ 40 annually, while a patterns subscription costs $ 10 per month or $ 100 per year.
This article originally appeared in Engadget in https://www.engadget.com/entartainment/streaming/pocket-casts-makes-its-web-player-and-desktop-apps-usable-without-a-subscription-193035046.html?src=RSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
