November 15, 2024 • 8 mins
As apps like BlogTalkRadio, Samsung Podcasts, and Google Podcasts exit stage left, new ones are stepping into the spotlight! We're reviewing a fresh podcast listening app, Queue, which is purported to be the "simplest podcast app out there".
Don't forget to submit your response to last episode's sound-off question: Have you ever experienced a podcasting pitfall? What did you learn from it?
Contact Buzzcast
- Send us a text message
- Tweet us at @buzzcastpodcast, @albanbrooke, @kfinn, and @JordanPods
Thanks for listening and Keep Podcasting!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alban (00:00):
Just us today, jordan yeah just us.
Kevin is at a swim meet and heoffered to do the podcast from
his car, which we politelydeclined.
Jordan (00:09):
Yeah, we shut that down real quick.
It's like I can do it, guys.
We're like no, we don't wantyou to.
Alban (00:22):
So what are we talking about today?
Jordan (00:23):
All right, we're talking about podcast apps.
So recently, BlogTalk Radio andSamsung Podcasts announced that
they will be shutting down.
Alban (00:33):
So BlogTalk Radio was started in like 2006.
And it's not exactly, you know,analogous to Buzzsprout or
Transistor or Podbean or one ofyou know.
We're not exactly one to oneBecause BlogTalk Radio, I mean
they're not exactly a one-to-one, because BlogTalk Radio, I mean
they launched 2006.
It's almost been 20 years, wow.
And they were kind of oldschool and they had like you
(00:53):
could call in.
It was very focused on likecall-ins and live streams.
Jordan (00:57):
Yeah, like they're more like online radio.
Alban (01:00):
Yeah, blogtalk Radio.
Jordan (01:02):
Yeah.
Alban (01:07):
And then years ago, maybe like six years ago, they were
bought by the company that ownedSpreaker, and then they
combined to make a largercompany.
Jordan (01:12):
That makes sense.
Alban (01:13):
And so you stopped seeing them at the events.
But back in the day, I mean,you would talk to lots of people
and they'd be like oh, mypodcast is on Blog Talk Radio
and I think a lot of people wereusing them because it was
really nice if you wanted peopleto call in.
Now I think it makes a littlemore sense to use Riverside or
Descript or something wherepeople can call in during the
recording.
Jordan (01:33):
Okay, yeah, so they're going to be closing in January
next year, and then SamsungPodcasts is going to be shutting
down on December 1st.
So in a few weeks here, which Iwas really surprised that
they're shutting down.
It feels like they just started, didn't they?
Alban (01:49):
They just started.
Yeah, I felt that too, thoughremember, when they launched,
their logo was so far off of theSamsung logo that I thought
that we got the wrong logo whenwe put it on our website.
Oh, really.
It was like a big thing thatsaid free on it.
Oh my gosh.
And I was like oh, did we putthis random free logo up instead
(02:09):
of the Samsung one?
And then I think Megan was likeno, that's the logo that they
have.
Jordan (02:13):
Yeah, Samsung free.
That's really funny.
Alban (02:17):
It seemed like a cost thing, not a Samsung thing.
There should have been maybe alittle more.
I'm sure the branding wasn'twhat held them back entirely,
but it didn't ever pick up andso they're shutting it down.
But probably you know a gooddecision when you when something
doesn't pick up after a whilethere's a point where you have
to cut your losses.
Jordan (02:34):
Well, I kind of doubt that any of our listeners are
using these two apps, but justbe aware that they're shutting
down.
But there is a new app that'sbeen kind of like making its
rounds online, and how new is it?
It's pretty new, right.
It's called Q, it's by IkeDrescher and it's this really
lovely podcast app.
Alban (02:51):
I think it's brand new, like a few days old.
Jordan (02:54):
Wow, really.
Alban (02:55):
I'm not sure how it made its way over to me, but I saw it
on Twitter and the creator justlaunched it and it's beautiful.
It's gorgeous, it looks like adesigner.
And then I started recognizingother apps that he'd worked on
and so it kind of made sense.
But it's like there's a ton ofattention to detail.
Everything looks nice.
One of the ways that that cameout was every podcast that I
(03:16):
clicked on, just the show notesalways look perfect, and I just
went and did a big deep divelooking at different apps and
there's tons of podcasts thatApple podcasts and Spotify they
all display differently or theformatting just doesn't look
right.
Jordan (03:32):
Yeah.
Alban (03:32):
And yet, with Q, every one of them look good.
Buzzcast looked really good,all the bullets are supported
and everything to my eye lookgreat and, yeah, I really
enjoyed it.
I mean there's tons of positivethings, but it's brand new, so
there are a lot of these.
I don't know podcast nerd,podcast, snob features that it
(03:52):
doesn't have.
Jordan (03:54):
Yeah, so is this a free app or is it paid?
Alban (03:57):
Free for now.
I think that I'm on maybe atrial, but I think ultimately
the goal is to move you over tolike $4 a month paid plan.
If it had a few more features,I think that it would be in
contention for like the app thatI would use all the time.
It looks beautiful.
All these were like really cutelittle animations and there's
things that I kind of enjoy.
(04:19):
I feel like the creator must bea big podcast fan.
It's got a whole section aboutthe founding of podcasts.
The opening video has a littleclip from Steve Jobs announcing
that podcasts are going to becoming to iTunes back in 2005.
It's everything you subscribeto podcasts.
There's no follow.
(04:39):
If you click the button forsubscribe, it changes color and
then just adds a D to say likeyou've subscribed.
Oh cute, it's all these likecute little animations.
It's got nice use of haptics.
Jordan (04:54):
Yeah.
Alban (04:54):
It feels really polished.
The downside is that I've beentotally spoiled by all these
other apps that I'm likeexpecting.
Oh, where's the voice boost?
Where's, like, the adaptivespeed control?
Where's my CarPlay app?
Oh yeah, you know these arethings that are probably going
to come after there's like morethan 100 people using the app.
Jordan (05:15):
Yeah, okay.
So looking at his app, it seemslike on the Q Pro you get
chapter support listeninginsights where you can see your
top podcasts, total listeningtimes and longest episodes
you've listened to, which isvery fun, and then customize
your skip intervals and thenthey also have like listening
streak, which reminds me a bitof Duolingo, when you get like
(05:38):
the thing like don't ruin yourstreak.
I like that.
He's kind of like gamifyingpodcast listening.
Alban (05:44):
All the little, all the streaks are fun.
You're looking at them.
I used to love Overcast wouldkeep a record of the smart speed
control, how much time it savedyou, and so you'd use it for
years and then I never felt likeI listened to anything except
at 1X, and then it would be likeyou've anything except at one X
, and then it would be likeyou've saved 40 hours with smart
(06:04):
speed control, because overtime it was just shortening
silences, but they added up andyeah, I really liked the app Few
things that I would really likewe've mentioned but the main
thing about it and I think thiswill work for some people it
definitely works for me, butmaybe not everybody is it's
organized around the queue likea chronological list of all the
(06:27):
episodes.
There's not a page to go.
Look at all the episodes yousubscribe to.
At least that's not a defaultpage.
I didn't see any way to createplaylists or group episodes
together.
It's just like here's the queue, here's all of your episodes.
And it starts playing at thetop, or you can scroll down and
click another one and play thatone.
Jordan (06:45):
Okay, I haven't been in this app as long as you have.
I know that you've subscribedto podcasts with it.
You've tested it out a littlebit.
I quickly downloaded it just totest things out and I noticed
that in the app store it'slisted as age four plus years
old.
But when I opened the app forthe very first time, they have
(07:06):
this gorgeous video intro beforeyou can get like signed into
the app and it has all theseclips from like podcasts and
like the artwork spinning aroundand it's really beautiful.
But something that kind of tookme aback was one of the
podcasts was like very explicitand dropping like F-bombs and I
was like whoa, okay, Like Ihaven't even signed in yet.
(07:26):
Man, I think I'm just going toissue that little warning.
Alban (07:30):
If you're going to open this app in front of your
children, they might hear theF-word.
Jordan (07:34):
Yes, I would definitely issue that warning because
luckily my kids were not around,but I had my phone on full
blast.
Alban (07:40):
Oh, it's a really pretty app.
If you are on the search for anew podcast listening app, I
think it's very well done andI'm always happy that this is a
space that seems to be gettingmore love.
We just talked about Samsungfree shutting down at Google
Podcasts shut down and blog talkradio is kind of everything's
going into Spreaker and sosometimes you see those and
(08:04):
you're like, oh, that's a bummer.
But what we really needed werepeople thinking about the
podcast listening experience,and I'm really excited to see
more people entering the space.
There had been kind of a periodwhere not a lot of apps were
getting a ton of development.
So like Overcast was kind oflike the main one that a lot of
(08:25):
people were using, and nowthere's a ton of options.
I've been bouncing around quitea bit because I'm playing
around and having fun.
So very cool that Q is outthere in the world and maybe
people should check it out.
Jordan (08:38):
And we still need responses for our sound off
question from our last episode,which is have you ever
experienced a podcasting pitfalland what did you learn from it?
So make sure to send those inand, until next week, keep
podcasting.
Just us today, jordan yeah just us.
Kevin is at a swim meet and heoffered to do the podcast from
his car, which we politelydeclined.
Jordan (00:09):
Yeah, we shut that down real quick.
It's like I can do it, guys.
We're like no, we don't wantyou to.
Alban (00:22):
So what are we talking about today?
Jordan (00:23):
All right, we're talking about podcast apps.
So recently, BlogTalk Radio andSamsung Podcasts announced that
they will be shutting down.
Alban (00:33):
So BlogTalk Radio was started in like 2006.
And it's not exactly, you know,analogous to Buzzsprout or
Transistor or Podbean or one ofyou know.
We're not exactly one to oneBecause BlogTalk Radio, I mean
they're not exactly a one-to-one, because BlogTalk Radio, I mean
they launched 2006.
It's almost been 20 years, wow.
And they were kind of oldschool and they had like you
(00:53):
could call in.
It was very focused on likecall-ins and live streams.
Jordan (00:57):
Yeah, like they're more like online radio.
Alban (01:00):
Yeah, blogtalk Radio.
Jordan (01:02):
Yeah.
Alban (01:07):
And then years ago, maybe like six years ago, they were
bought by the company that ownedSpreaker, and then they
combined to make a largercompany.
Jordan (01:12):
That makes sense.
Alban (01:13):
And so you stopped seeing them at the events.
But back in the day, I mean,you would talk to lots of people
and they'd be like oh, mypodcast is on Blog Talk Radio
and I think a lot of people wereusing them because it was
really nice if you wanted peopleto call in.
Now I think it makes a littlemore sense to use Riverside or
Descript or something wherepeople can call in during the
recording.
Jordan (01:33):
Okay, yeah, so they're going to be closing in January
next year, and then SamsungPodcasts is going to be shutting
down on December 1st.
So in a few weeks here, which Iwas really surprised that
they're shutting down.
It feels like they just started, didn't they?
Alban (01:49):
They just started.
Yeah, I felt that too, thoughremember, when they launched,
their logo was so far off of theSamsung logo that I thought
that we got the wrong logo whenwe put it on our website.
Oh, really.
It was like a big thing thatsaid free on it.
Oh my gosh.
And I was like oh, did we putthis random free logo up instead
(02:09):
of the Samsung one?
And then I think Megan was likeno, that's the logo that they
have.
Jordan (02:13):
Yeah, Samsung free.
That's really funny.
Alban (02:17):
It seemed like a cost thing, not a Samsung thing.
There should have been maybe alittle more.
I'm sure the branding wasn'twhat held them back entirely,
but it didn't ever pick up andso they're shutting it down.
But probably you know a gooddecision when you when something
doesn't pick up after a whilethere's a point where you have
to cut your losses.
Jordan (02:34):
Well, I kind of doubt that any of our listeners are
using these two apps, but justbe aware that they're shutting
down.
But there is a new app that'sbeen kind of like making its
rounds online, and how new is it?
It's pretty new, right.
It's called Q, it's by IkeDrescher and it's this really
lovely podcast app.
Alban (02:51):
I think it's brand new, like a few days old.
Jordan (02:54):
Wow, really.
Alban (02:55):
I'm not sure how it made its way over to me, but I saw it
on Twitter and the creator justlaunched it and it's beautiful.
It's gorgeous, it looks like adesigner.
And then I started recognizingother apps that he'd worked on
and so it kind of made sense.
But it's like there's a ton ofattention to detail.
Everything looks nice.
One of the ways that that cameout was every podcast that I
(03:16):
clicked on, just the show notesalways look perfect, and I just
went and did a big deep divelooking at different apps and
there's tons of podcasts thatApple podcasts and Spotify they
all display differently or theformatting just doesn't look
right.
Jordan (03:32):
Yeah.
Alban (03:32):
And yet, with Q, every one of them look good.
Buzzcast looked really good,all the bullets are supported
and everything to my eye lookgreat and, yeah, I really
enjoyed it.
I mean there's tons of positivethings, but it's brand new, so
there are a lot of these.
I don't know podcast nerd,podcast, snob features that it
(03:52):
doesn't have.
Jordan (03:54):
Yeah, so is this a free app or is it paid?
Alban (03:57):
Free for now.
I think that I'm on maybe atrial, but I think ultimately
the goal is to move you over tolike $4 a month paid plan.
If it had a few more features,I think that it would be in
contention for like the app thatI would use all the time.
It looks beautiful.
All these were like really cutelittle animations and there's
things that I kind of enjoy.
(04:19):
I feel like the creator must bea big podcast fan.
It's got a whole section aboutthe founding of podcasts.
The opening video has a littleclip from Steve Jobs announcing
that podcasts are going to becoming to iTunes back in 2005.
It's everything you subscribeto podcasts.
There's no follow.
(04:39):
If you click the button forsubscribe, it changes color and
then just adds a D to say likeyou've subscribed.
Oh cute, it's all these likecute little animations.
It's got nice use of haptics.
Jordan (04:54):
Yeah.
Alban (04:54):
It feels really polished.
The downside is that I've beentotally spoiled by all these
other apps that I'm likeexpecting.
Oh, where's the voice boost?
Where's, like, the adaptivespeed control?
Where's my CarPlay app?
Oh yeah, you know these arethings that are probably going
to come after there's like morethan 100 people using the app.
Jordan (05:15):
Yeah, okay.
So looking at his app, it seemslike on the Q Pro you get
chapter support listeninginsights where you can see your
top podcasts, total listeningtimes and longest episodes
you've listened to, which isvery fun, and then customize
your skip intervals and thenthey also have like listening
streak, which reminds me a bitof Duolingo, when you get like
(05:38):
the thing like don't ruin yourstreak.
I like that.
He's kind of like gamifyingpodcast listening.
Alban (05:44):
All the little, all the streaks are fun.
You're looking at them.
I used to love Overcast wouldkeep a record of the smart speed
control, how much time it savedyou, and so you'd use it for
years and then I never felt likeI listened to anything except
at 1X, and then it would be likeyou've anything except at one X
, and then it would be likeyou've saved 40 hours with smart
(06:04):
speed control, because overtime it was just shortening
silences, but they added up andyeah, I really liked the app Few
things that I would really likewe've mentioned but the main
thing about it and I think thiswill work for some people it
definitely works for me, butmaybe not everybody is it's
organized around the queue likea chronological list of all the
(06:27):
episodes.
There's not a page to go.
Look at all the episodes yousubscribe to.
At least that's not a defaultpage.
I didn't see any way to createplaylists or group episodes
together.
It's just like here's the queue, here's all of your episodes.
And it starts playing at thetop, or you can scroll down and
click another one and play thatone.
Jordan (06:45):
Okay, I haven't been in this app as long as you have.
I know that you've subscribedto podcasts with it.
You've tested it out a littlebit.
I quickly downloaded it just totest things out and I noticed
that in the app store it'slisted as age four plus years
old.
But when I opened the app forthe very first time, they have
(07:06):
this gorgeous video intro beforeyou can get like signed into
the app and it has all theseclips from like podcasts and
like the artwork spinning aroundand it's really beautiful.
But something that kind of tookme aback was one of the
podcasts was like very explicitand dropping like F-bombs and I
was like whoa, okay, Like Ihaven't even signed in yet.
(07:26):
Man, I think I'm just going toissue that little warning.
Alban (07:30):
If you're going to open this app in front of your
children, they might hear theF-word.
Jordan (07:34):
Yes, I would definitely issue that warning because
luckily my kids were not around,but I had my phone on full
blast.
Alban (07:40):
Oh, it's a really pretty app.
If you are on the search for anew podcast listening app, I
think it's very well done andI'm always happy that this is a
space that seems to be gettingmore love.
We just talked about Samsungfree shutting down at Google
Podcasts shut down and blog talkradio is kind of everything's
going into Spreaker and sosometimes you see those and
(08:04):
you're like, oh, that's a bummer.
But what we really needed werepeople thinking about the
podcast listening experience,and I'm really excited to see
more people entering the space.
There had been kind of a periodwhere not a lot of apps were
getting a ton of development.
So like Overcast was kind oflike the main one that a lot of
(08:25):
people were using, and nowthere's a ton of options.
I've been bouncing around quitea bit because I'm playing
around and having fun.
So very cool that Q is outthere in the world and maybe
people should check it out.
Jordan (08:38):
And we still need responses for our sound off
question from our last episode,which is have you ever
experienced a podcasting pitfalland what did you learn from it?
So make sure to send those inand, until next week, keep
podcasting.
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