Podcasts Go Public: Pocket Casts Opens Up

Pocket Casts has made a big move. They've decided to make their web player free for everyone. This means anyone can stream podcasts, change playback speed, and manage their playlist queue without paying a dime. If you create an account, you can also keep track of your progress, manage your queue, bookmark moments, and save your preferences. This change applies to both the web player and clients for Windows and Mac. The team at Pocket Casts believes podcasting should stay open and free. They want to keep podcasting from being locked behind paywalls or controlled by big corporations. This is a big deal because podcasting started as an open platform. Anyone could create and share podcasts without needing approval from a specific platform. This move by Pocket Casts is a direct response to companies like Spotify, which have been trying to control the podcasting market. Spotify has been buying up popular podcasts and tools. They're even moving into video podcasts to compete with YouTube. Pocket Casts is worried that this will change the open nature of podcasting. They believe discovery should be organic and driven by users, not algorithms or AI that promote what's best for the platform. Pocket Casts is owned by Automattic, the company behind WordPress. Automattic has been involved in debates about how open their products should be. This move by Pocket Casts shows they are committed to keeping podcasting open and accessible to everyone.