Notices by Nathan Gathright (nathan@xoxo.zone)

@tchambers I'll be on the Podcasting 2.0 show later today!

Podcast apps are basically browsers for audio. But unlike the actual web, there were never search engines or algorithmic feeds putting pressure on the ecosystem to build discovery tools. Podcasters got stability through RSS — at the cost of staying invisible to new listeners.

The simplest case: one show recommending another. The best a host can do is say "find it wherever you get your podcasts." The listener has to remember the name, open their app, search for it, find the right one, hit subscribe. That's a lot of steps to lose someone.

Other federated ecosystems don’t work like this. Tap a Mastodon link inside a Mastodon app and it opens natively. You don’t get bounced to a browser showing a webpage with a list of ActivityPub apps. The app understands the link. Podcast apps could do the same, but they don’t.

Apple is partway there. Timed Links in Apple Podcasts can detect when a host mentions another show and link right to it. But the links only go to Apple Podcasts pages. It's a closed-loop version of something that should be an open standard. It’s the behavior you’d want from every podcast app.

The catch is that Timed Links only work within Apple’s ecosystem. The links point to Apple Podcasts pages. If a podcaster links to a show’s Spotify page or personal website, Apple’s detection doesn’t recognize it. It encourages podcasters to include Apple Podcasts links over alternatives, which isn’t ideal for listeners in other apps. It’s a closed-loop version of an idea that should be an open standard. So what would it take to build one?

Podcast apps could fix this today. Crawl every link in show notes for RSS feeds and Schema.org podcast metadata — the same way RSS readers already detect feeds behind web pages. If a link points to a podcast, open it natively. Subscribe, preview, play. No browser redirect.

The nice thing about this approach is that it works around feed generators rather than depending on them. Don’t count on every hosting platform adding some new tag. Put the intelligence in the podcast app instead. Every link in a show’s notes and chapters could be quietly crawled in the background.

None of this works if it requires podcasters to change what they’re already doing. You can’t convince everyone to adopt a new URL scheme or append special parameters. They link to what’s convenient. Every podcast reference, however it’s formatted, should be a potential in-app destination.

Podcasting’s separation from the web has mostly been a good thing for creators. But it also means the ecosystem never built the connective tissue that the web takes for granted. Hyperlinks are the web’s most basic technology, and podcast apps still can’t follow them. The pieces to fix this are already out there. What’s missing is someone putting them together.

Podcasting is an internet-born medium that never really grew up on the web. Most episodes have a canonical URL, but nobody sends listeners there. The browser isn't where podcasts happen. Your podcast app is. And that shaped everything about discovery.

@marcoarment just announced on @atpfm that @overcastfm is shipping podcast transcripts for every public podcast with more than one listener. No subscription required. The story of how he pulled it off is genuinely absurd.

@annika yup! There’s a base. It just doesn’t extend far enough to be visible.

Built a PC this weekend and mounted it underneath my sit/stand desk.

@alberto @js @dave What’s holding you back from implementing this today?

Riverside’s recently launch podcast hosting. Bundling hosting alongside livestreaming + remote recording + editing makes a lot of sense.

But if they wanted to take advantage of the podcast namespace, they could become the simplest way for podcasters to livestream audio and/or video into Podcasting 2.0 apps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Z_4QsOkS4

Today, I’m thrilled to share that Spotify has returned Podlink to my care! After four and a half years, Podlink is back with its original founder, and I’m excited about what’s ahead.

The `podcast:chapters` tag has been added to Apple’s Podcaster’s Guide to RSS https://help.apple.com/itc/podcasts_connect/#/itcb54353390:~:text=podcast%3Achapters. Checking against the Wayback Machine, this was added in the past 2 weeks!

@dave are you thinking of my storefront proposal? https://github.com/Podcastindex-org/podcast-namespace/discussions/644

@dave the goal was basically to achieve parity with the feature available in Spotify and Amazon Music. (Ideally without running afoul of App Reviews’ in-apppurchasing guidelines.)