Chris Messina

Overcast 3.0 - A powerful yet simple podcast player

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Chris Messina
Wow, this is a huge update for Overcast. Here're some comparisons of what's new: Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New
Kunal Bhatia
@chrismessina I think this is probably in the running for the "PH Longest Comment of the Year" award. Thank you for the comparison though! Great to see the evolution.
Alexandre Vallières-Lagacé
@kunalslab @chrismessina I would have gave bonus points if it was side by side :P
tom meagher
@vallieres @kunalslab @chrismessina @rrhoover There has to be a better way to display comments like this.
Hugo Fauquenoi
@kunalslab @chrismessina thought i'd never stop scrolling. I was scared (awesome comparison!)
Matt Horton
I never got the fanaticism around Overcast. This is better than the previous iteration, but meh. I also find Marco's aversion to Chromecast because the API is closed source to be rather 🙄-worthy.
Andreas Duess
@mattahorton I do agree. It's a decent app, but in no way outstanding. The Chromecast stance has been a long-standing deal killer for me, especially now that Google Home is in the market.
Can Comertoglu
@mattahorton It's purpose-built podcast listener. I haven't found anything comparable. What do you use?
Matt Horton
@cancom10 I use Pocket Casts. I think it's better as a matter of preference, but I also think Overcast and Pocket Casts sit above the rest.
Tuan Cao
@mattahorton I used to be a frequent user of Overcast but it never clicked to me. Then I found Castro, I like it much better than Overcast. It's been my favourite Podcast player for a while now.
Daniel
@andreasduess Same with me. Chromecast support would make it perfect. Although I discovered an iOS app which lets you cast audio from any app including Overcast.
Jason
Miss the swipe to delete option.
Matt Horton
@bluespringstn it's still there.
Jason
@mattahorton Only on the main list but not for once you enter into the individual podcast that lists the episodes.
Eric Wilson
@bluespringstn @mattahorton So you can only swipe to delete podcast series, not individual episodes. For me, I used swipe-to-delete podcast episodes 100x as much. I like the new card UI, and subtle icon update – it feels very polished. But as a daily user for years, the new list UI feels foreign and like more work than what I was used to. Feel the same way about having to swipe on the "now playing" screen to access the sleep timer. Maybe it works better for a new user or is a less cluttered design, but it feels like a downgrade to me.
Jason
@ecwilson I totally agree, definitely more work.
Steffen
@bluespringstn me too ✋
Gabriel Lewis
A great update to my favorite podcast app 😻
Conner Charlebois
Anyone know if there are plans to make a version of this for Android? I used to use this app all the time on iOS and now I have a Pixel and haven't been able to find a suitable replacement 😭
Matt Horton
@_connerc Marco isn't an Android guy, but Pocket Casts is spectacular.
G G
@_connerc the tech bubble is real, iOS is such a small fraction of the world.... hipsters and iOS.
Daniel Marcinkowski
The new watchOS app looks great, but I still prefer Pocket Casts because of Chromecast support and simpler UI
Juan Buis
Is there any podcast app better than Overcast? Because I haven't seen it yet.
Jason Shultz
@juanbuis Pocket Casts.
Kyle Miller
What's it look like for the publisher? Are there analytics re: drop-off, listen-through, audience demo, etc? I feel like that's what's really missing in the podcast world these days.
Mark Moriarty
@kymiller12 FYI Overcast does record listening progress "to sync this information between the website and your devices" (https://overcast.fm/privacy) but overall Marco is very keen to defend consumers' privacy, even if that means withholding useful data from publishers. "By the way, while I often get pitched on garbage podcast-listening-behavioral-data integrations, I’m never adding such tracking to Overcast. Never. The biggest reason I made a free, mass-market podcast app was so I could take stands like this." (https://marco.org/2016/05/07/app...) This is a commendable position on which his principles seem solid and not likely to change soon. I'm the founder at Awesound. We don't have an app, we're one of the RSS/mp3 hosting companies which podcasters can use as a back end. We try to differentiate ourselves by providing the most granular analytics (such as drop-off / listen-through, clicks on links, original source of listener, etc.) to publishers, without infringing on any individual listener's privacy. See https://twitter.com/awesoundapp/.... If you're curious, would be glad to chat (mark@awesound)
Adam Lasnik
@mbym @kymiller12 @awesound Wow, that's disappointing :\. Marco (and other podcast app developers) have a unique and, IMHO, important opportunity to help the podcast community here while protecting individuals' privacy. I see frankly no reason why these developers should NOT share detailed aggregate listening stats. Doing so could provide actionable information for podcasters -- helping them snag sponsorships, understand what segments of their podcasts are most interesting to listeners, and so on. And downsides? Can't think of any. As long as no personally identifying info was sent, I can't imagine how individuals' privacy would be harmed. It'd just be a matter of sending to podcasters info like: - dropoff points - percentage of users listening all the way through - percentage of users listening to podcasts more than once - percentage of users sharing podcasts with others etc.
Nate Kratchman
Bit of brilliant UX work here. This version introduces the notion of swiping *down* to return to a show's index listing from the player – whereas in the previous version you would swipe from the left. Rather than leaving users confused about this change, swiping from the left magically swipes the screen down...introducing you to the new concept while allowing you to continue your existing, engrained muscle memory. Contrast this to Google's Inbox app, where the swipe down motion is also used to return to the index – but swiping from the left (what I would consider industry standard at this point?) does nothing. :+1:
Guillaume Flandre
So far I used the native Podcast app on iOS, which is buggy and makes no sense in terms of UX. I'd be more than happy to find the perfect replacement. Previous versions of Overcast didn't quite work out for me, maybe that update will. I'll give it a try!
Lyondhür Picciarelli
@gflandre my replacement for that nightmare was Podly (after trying, you name it..). Happy as. Specially because you can connect your Facebook to a profile account and save your subs forever -- a major pain to anybody who decides to switch apps.
Jason Shultz
@san_picciarelli @gflandre doesn't most apps support a export to xml feature so you can do just that? I agree, switching apps can be a pain, but having a way to export and then import an xml file with your subs makes it a lot less painful.
Lyondhür Picciarelli
@thehashrocket Overcast is awesome. I have however turned to Podly because I can do that, natively and w/ friends.
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