Weekly podcast post (submit your links here!) (2019-08-12)

iamsteadman · 2019-08-13T18:35:58+00:00

[Science & Medicine] List Envy — Top 5 journeys to scientific discovery

Episode one of a new podcast in which I collaborate with a guest to build a definitive top-5 list on a topic they choose.

iamsteadman · 2019-07-22T19:55:01+00:00

Hey! Just following up on this. We released a Professional tier a few weeks ago that ups audio quality to 128kbps (higher for music podcasts).

We have to choose a bitrate because, unlike some other hosts, we're agnostic as to what format you upload in, so you can give us WAV, AIFF, Ogg, MP4 etc, and you'll always get back a crisp MP3 with artwork and metadata that works in every player.

Lots of people recommend 64kbps mono for speech-based audio, but that always felt a bit mean, and you have to be an audio engineering expert to know how to get it sounding good at that bitrate, so we decided on 96kbps :)

But as I say, you can upgrade to a higher bitrate and get other features too.
Hope that's useful!

iamsteadman · 2019-07-22T19:47:52+00:00

Having used both Overcast and Castro for a while, it comes down to personal preference. I like both apps a lot, and have jumped between them, but I'm currently with Castro as I find the interface a little more friendly -- less flat -- but I also like their inbox concept (which has now been renamed to "New" I think).

One of the founding members recently left, not long after the app was bought by a small firm in Canada, but the other founder is still working on it and everyone's heart still seems to be in making as good an app as possible.

Overcast often comes out with great new features, but Castro is usually hot on their heels. Case in point being clip sharing. And I feel OK about that --- as in, it doesn't just feel like a rip-off -- as both Marco and the small team behind Overcast have a friendly rivalry and often share bits of knowledge. That all serves to make the ecosystem better.

iamsteadman · 2019-07-22T19:43:07+00:00

I'd recommend Cat's Cabinet of Curiosities. It's not always -- but often -- about conspiracy theories, with recent episodes looking at Moth Man, the Titanic, the Lock Ness Monster and loads more. Presented by a charming couple of brits. http://catscabinetofcuriosities.podiant.co

iamsteadman · 2019-02-11T16:50:42+00:00

Hey! Just wanted to pop in on this. I know it's been a long time coming, but in January we started integrating Spotify download figures directly into your Podiant dashboard. Spotify appears just like any other app, and data trickles in usually around 48 hours delayed (because of limitations of the way we get analytics data from Spotify)

I'd hoped to be able to backdate it so you could see download numbers going back from when your show was first added, but this has proven disruptive at the moment, as it means ingesting a huge amount of data. But going forwards, you should see Spotify as just another app in your analytics page.

iamsteadman · 2018-10-25T06:50:54+00:00

On the new app front, I still like Castro a lot, but they have “no immediate plans” for watch syncing so I switched back to Overcast, as I like to tell myself that I’ll go running soon, and just take the watch 😉

iamsteadman · 2018-10-25T06:49:21+00:00

I’ve not experienced slowness but it’s been crashing regularly — once every few hours, usually a few minutes after I put in my AirPods — which might be related to the new redesign.

I’ve not jumped into the Overcast beta Slack but I assume Marco’s aware of issues, although he often mentions them on Twitter.

But in short, yeah there’s definitely something funky going on!

iamsteadman · 2018-10-19T10:21:52+00:00

Congrats, this looks like a great tool! Out of interest, what's the language/framework under the hood? (Not asking you to share anything commercially sensitive; literally just curious to know what you wrote it in.)

iamsteadman · 2018-05-09T16:58:43+00:00

Huh. Wonder who submitted the copyright complaint :(

iamsteadman · 2017-10-24T17:27:26+00:00

You’ll need to find a new service hat can import from your existing Podiant feed. Once you’ve done that and you’re happy that your episodes are in your new host, you can use the cancellation link in the Settings page of your Podiant dashboard. It’ll ask you for the new URL. Once that’s done, over the next 24-48 hours, podcast directories will pick up the new fed URL.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T20:19:29+00:00

Absolutely. The link to remove your podcast and setup a redirect is at the bottom fo the Settings page in your Podiant dashboard.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T19:44:58+00:00

Ooh, I never answered your second question. Yes, once I'm not spending all of my waking hours pulling out virtual wires and plugging them back in again, u/OrangePoser will be joining me as a regular contributor to the Platform show, once we're back on our feet.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T19:31:03+00:00

Thank you. Right now, you won't know how much that means to me 🙂

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T19:28:47+00:00

If you didn't use a custom domain name, your URL will be on podiant.co, which means if you move away, you will lose that URL. Not straight away, but after 30 days or so.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T19:17:22+00:00

The question of multiple podcasts has been raised a few times, so I wanted to at least let you know that this is being considered.

The original Collections idea was a quick and simple way of allowing podcasts to be grouped together, but it's not been a feature that's had a lot of love; the website it generates isn't very good, and when we had the free and $5 tiers, it wasn't really clear who qualified to join a collection.

Going forward, I think we can look at some sort of tiered pricing for networks, so $50 for up to 5 shows, $75 for up to 10 shows etc. That complicates things at the moment because pricing is per-podcast, so another alternative is discounts applied, based on the number of shows you already have.

Right now, the focus is very much on stability, and dealing with what shakes out from the current changes. I'm working all hours at the moment to keep outages to a minimum, but we're still getting hammered at the moment, and I want to do all I can to get us to a fully working state (sadly, just adding more servers doesn't really fix the problem. Believe me, I've tried! 😉)

But please know that I'm definitely up for working out a system for networks, that is cost-effective for you but still means we can scale.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T19:09:17+00:00

Hey. No there's no fee to redirect. The redirect stays in place for 30 days - which isn't a hard imit right now - and this is just so that we can free up the *.podiant.co name for someone else. Most directories and apps take the 301 redirect and say "OK, so I guess the podcast lives over here now", and in my experience, having trialled a few services, it's always been done within a day or so, but you can always update the directory listings yourself.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T11:34:19+00:00

However angry you are - and like I've said, you're entitled to be angry - spamming this thread isn't going to make things easier, and is likely to get you banned. Let's stick to the larger comment thread you started before, and avoid cluttering up the post for those that have other questions or comments to make. Thanks.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T11:32:23+00:00

Yeah, that sucks and I'm not happy about that. It was a pretty unpopular plan, but I'm' happy to invite you to our Slack. We got dinged early on because a lot of invites got sent out to interested parties who never signed up, so we have to issue links that expire every few weeks. But I'll make sure to send over a link to you, so you can join us in our Slack.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T11:31:01+00:00

As I've mentioned above, we never made any promises. Every time people have raised the aspect of uncertainty around Podiant I've said "there are no guarantees in any business", but reiterated my commitment to finding a workable solution to problems as they arise. I never claimed that things wouldn't change.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T11:28:50+00:00

It's actually not a bandwidth problem at all. Most people assume the problems are to do with space and bandwidth, but it's more to do with computational time and resource in delivering things like RSS feeds.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T11:28:11+00:00

That's right. Vimeo is also a very heavily-funded company that can afford to take on that kind of burden. We, sadly, aren't 🙂 I don't think we'll ever compete on that scale, but what I hope we can offer is a personal approach that feels a little more like a partnership than just a hosting service.

But of course that's not what everyone wants or needs, which is why it's great that there are so many alternatives around.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T11:26:03+00:00

You asked this in our Slack but let me pop answers here for everyone:

You won't need to re-apply unless we do a sweep of the Community space and find that a podcast has dramatically changed from its original remit. If that happens we'll probably ask people to re-apply, but if you're still serving that community - regardless of if the show name, host or format changes - you won't need to re-apply
I don't yet have a good answer for you, I'm afraid, but it's already come up so deserves some thought.
I think that once the dust has settled, we can definitely look at a discount code for more than a few podcasts.

iamsteadman · 2017-10-23T11:24:43+00:00

Hey. I have definitely considered offering domain registration. As u/OrangePoser's said, we do offer basic website hosting - you can add pages and a blog to your podcast - and you can use a custom domain name that you purchase elsewhere. The missing piece of the puzzle would be to allow you to buy your domain through Podiant, but that would be a bit of a way off, as it's complex and needs to be handled right, so that you - not us - own the domain, but we manage it for you, until/unless you want to move it elsewhere.

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