Why hasn't the Google Play store started hosting podcasts yet?

[Ksyder]

I consider the podcast section of itunes a great thing, as it has created an excellent distribution system for podcasts, and fosters creativity due to its large reach.

However, the obvious downside is that you either have to use itunes or an i Device. Nothing like this exists on Android, you pretty much have to use a podcast app and they are generally crappy and you have to manually subscribe to rss feeds.

When you compare the offerings between itunes and google play podcasts are obviously missing from google play. Why don't they add this? I think itunes doesn't host the podcasts, so bandwidth shouldn't be a concern.

 

[soccerballtux]

because google doesn't know how to execute.

Examples:
-Botched google+ rollout. Had opportunity to snag entire facebook population over night if they had offered instantaneous access to everyone and "log into your facebook through this and we'll auto-add your facebook friends as they join google+".
-Android still can't render at 60fps on anything except the very latest hardware and android build (Jellybean)
-I have more will update later I can't remember them though. Basically google can't execute.

 

[Kanalua]

-Botched google+ rollout. Had opportunity to snag entire facebook population over night if they had offered instantaneous access to everyone and "log into your facebook through this and we'll auto-add your facebook friends as they join google+".

Sigh...yeah, I wish they did this...why can't they do this now?

 

[shortylickens]

If I gave a darn about podcasts I would have bought an iPhone years ago.

 

[Oyeve]

If I gave a darn about podcasts I would have bought an iPhone years ago.

Bingo. Podcast are to me stupid and useless.

 

[Ksyder]

To each their own. I find podcasts enjoyable especially on long car trips and other occasions where I need to be entertained. It is a more useful way of communicating information than people give it credit for because other productive tasks can be done while listening, whereas that is hard to do when reading or watching a video.

Anyways, on topic, I've went the iOS route a few times with ipad/iphone/ipod touch and while there is a large selection, the overall experience is still somewhat lacking, it is still buggy sometimes despite people's impression that iOS is flawless.

Example, I click on a green download button. It does nothing. I press it a few more times and the itunes store or whatever it is just crashes.

I think a centralized podcast repository is something that would make sense for Google to have.

 

[shortylickens]

Bingo. Podcast are to me stupid and useless.

I dont know about stupid and useless, but if I dont think Android needs them.
People who like such things probably already got some apple product to fulfill that role.

 

[jiffylube1024]

This puzzles me as well. It seems like a no-brainer. I much prefer the Apple style centralized podcast access; as it is I need to download them individually as mp3's to my device.

I also used the podcast section of iTunes regularly when I had my iPhone 3GS. Switching to Android, I have to search the internet for my podcasts.

 

[zerogear]

Don't really need them. If you want Podcasts, get Pocket Casts on Android and download as you like.

 

[lothar]

I've never met anyone in real life that listens to podcasts.
I don't either.

 

[EvilYoda]

I listen to more and more podcasts since I started a tour that requires a lot of driving (smodcast has single-handedly helped me stay away better than anything I've tried up to this point, heh) - I looked into podcast aggregating apps before only to be disappointed. I wouldn't mind a nice mix of sports, movies, humor, and pop culture.

 

[JackOfHearts]

The only reason itunes is on my computer is podcast. I haven't found an app that can find them as easily as i tunes. Podkicker is a good app but its search is limited.

 

[WelshBloke]

Don't really need them. If you want Podcasts, get Pocket Casts on Android and download as you like.

This.

I'm not sure that you'd gain anything from using the play store, its getting too bloated as it is. Its a nightmare to browse your old apps on.

 

[RedRooster]

Don't really need them. If you want Podcasts, get Pocket Casts on Android and download as you like.

Agreed, what a beauty app.
In fact, a lot of the pay podcast apps have search function that works well, Google Listen was the only one I had to actually paste in the RSS feed.

 

[Anubis]

you could just download the podcast from whatever website and push it to your phone

 

[shurato]

I listen to the Adam Carolla podcast everyday on my commute to and from work. There's plenty of people out there who listen to various podcasts and I am also dissapointed after moving to Android from an iPhone that there isnt a similarly easy synching solution.

Right now I use Google listen but its buggy and cumbersome compared to using iTunes.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[WelshBloke]

I listen to the Adam Carolla podcast everyday on my commute to and from work. There's plenty of people out there who listen to various podcasts and I am also dissapointed after moving to Android from an iPhone that there isnt a similarly easy synching solution.

Right now I use Google listen but its buggy and cumbersome compared to using iTunes.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Like mentioned earlier, give pocket casts a try its fantastic for audio pod casts.

 

[dagamer34]

because google doesn't know how to execute.

Examples:
-Botched google+ rollout. Had opportunity to snag entire facebook population over night if they had offered instantaneous access to everyone and "log into your facebook through this and we'll auto-add your facebook friends as they join google+".
-Android still can't render at 60fps on anything except the very latest hardware and android build (Jellybean)
-I have more will update later I can't remember them though. Basically google can't execute.

Uh... Google couldn't do that because Facebook wouldn't let them. Remember the bruhaha between Facebook and Google as Facebook was siphoning contact info from Gmail but not sharing anything back? Google pulled support for the feature.

Companies like Facebook and Twitter lock down your friends' list to exactly prevent users from jumping over to a new service with ease.


Also, as far as Android not rendering at 60fps, I don't think iOS did so either until the iPhone 4 or 4S. The difference is that Apple locked the frame rate so everything appeared consistent, whereas Android has typically let the frame rate go as high as it can. You notice dips in frame rate, not the frame rate itself (which is why movies are fine at 24 fps, and cartoons are fine at 12 fps).

 

[obidamnkenobi]

What are you talking about?! Podcast apps generally crappy? manually add RSS??

I use Doggcatcher on Android and it's way better than iTunes ever was on my iPod (haven't tried the new apple podcast thing). Search podcast, add feed, done. Set to automatically update (on wifi only) at night, and delete old ones. Hot, fresh podcasts in the morning!

 

[Ravynmagi]

Kinda surprised some seem to think podcasts is an Apple thing. I'm an Android person (but confess to owning an iPad) and I love watching and listening to podcasts on my Nexus 7, Galaxy Nexus and other Android devices. Heck I think podcast apps have been much better on the Android side than on the iOS side.

I think for a while Apple has been restricting or limiting third party podcasts on iOS, you know how they are about apps that step on the toes of it's own services. And iTunes on the iPad didn't let me subscribe to podcasts, so I had to manually find them or sync my iPad with my desktop which I felt was very cumbersome. Apple has made huge improvements recently, they now have a Podcast app that lets me subscribe to podcasts directly on my iPad, so have basically caught up to the experience I've had on my Andriod devices for a long time.

Don't know if Google needs to directly integrate podcasts into Google Play, though I wouldn't complain if they did. They have YouTube which is already hosts many podcasts, I just wish YouTube would allow me to to pin specific videos for offline viewing, since streaming podcasts or any videos on YouTube during peak hours really sucks (buffering). Preloading doesn't seem to work to well so far.

 

[jhansman]

I stopped using iTunes for gathering podcasts months ago. Podkicker or BeyondPod do all I need. In fact, the only reason I use iTunes at all anymore is to stream interent radio to my AVR in the living room; I'd use another program for this if I could find one. Anybody?

 

[Ksyder]

What are you talking about?! Podcast apps generally crappy? manually add RSS??

I use Doggcatcher on Android and it's way better than iTunes ever was on my iPod (haven't tried the new apple podcast thing). Search podcast, add feed, done. Set to automatically update (on wifi only) at night, and delete old ones. Hot, fresh podcasts in the morning!

I bought Doggcatcher awhile back, just didn't care for it at the time. I know it is highly rated. I'm still not impressed with the overall podcast app environment on Android.

Everyone keeps talking about searching for podcasts within podcast apps. Can't say I've tried it but I'd be amazed if every single podcast I listen to is somehow searchable from within the app.

Found a little info about that
http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/279

I think thats fine, and I don't mind dealing with the rss url's, but still I think it would make logical sense to have podcasts published through the play store.

 

[TuxDave]

I dont know about stupid and useless, but if I dont think Android needs them.
People who like such things probably already got some apple product to fulfill that role.

There's definitely 3rd party support for them. My friends are the BIGGEST podcast nerds I have ever seen and they have never owned an Apple product, only Android.

 

[jhansman]

Everyone keeps talking about searching for podcasts within podcast apps. Can't say I've tried it but I'd be amazed if every single podcast I listen to is somehow searchable from within the app.

You might be surprised. If the podcast has an RSS feed, it can be tracked and updated by the major Android podcast apps.

 

[Ksyder]

Don't really need them. If you want Podcasts, get Pocket Casts on Android and download as you like.

Nice app. Purchased it. Thanks for the suggestion!

You might be surprised. If the podcast has an RSS feed, it can be tracked and updated by the major Android podcast apps.

You are right, I am surprised. It had my favorites and also pulled up some more that I added to my selection. Now to find the time to listen to them...

Thanks to all for your suggestions + commentary... Definitely think I will get alot more satisfaction out of Pocket casts then I did out of beyond pod. Nice app.

As far as google play is concerned, I guess I'm not holding my breath. As for itunes, I like the aggregation of all of the podcasts but I still think it is lacking in execution (can only download one at a time, has problems with stability on the ipad, hard to read descriptions of individual episodes, usually title is cut off because of the width of the title column, etc)