podcasting
Latest
Luminary cuts the price of its premium podcast plan to $5/month
Less than 12 months after its rocky debut, premium podcast service Luminary has lowered its subscription fee. It's down to $5 from $8 per month, while the company added a $35 annual plan.
Pandora adds podcasts to its web player and desktop app
Last year, Pandora introduced a library of podcasts which has grown from hundreds of shows to thousands. While the service offered many of the most popular series, the sticking point was that support was limited to the company's mobile apps. To make it easier for listeners to catch up with their favorite podcasts, Pandora has added the episodic content to its desktop app and web player, which is available to both free and paid users.
Blue's Yeti X microphone comes with everything you need to sound like a pro
Blue's microphones have been a popular choice for podcasters and live streamers for years, mostly due to their plug-and-play ease of use. Now the company is aiming to make things even easier with its latest USB mic: the Yeti X. The new $169.99 option has redesigned LED metering built in so you can keep tabs on vocal levels in real time. Should you need to make a change, a multi-function control knob does that right on the microphone -- similar to previous Blue devices. What's new here is that same control also acts as the mute switch and can be used to control volume for headphone monitoring.
Spotify is testing a 'Create podcast' button inside its app
Spotify has been ramping up its podcast offerings recently, and soon the company will make it easier than ever to publish your own podcast on the platform. Judging by a new 'Create podcast' button in the Spotify app, it looks like you'll shortly be able to record, edit and publish a podcast right from your phone using the Anchor app, then upload it to Spotify and other platforms like Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts with a single tap.
Bullet's captioned snippets make podcasts a lot more shareable
While becoming more and more popular, podcasts are far less share-friendly than videos because of their long-form and audio-only nature. An Adelaide-based company aims to change that with a new iOS app called Bullet. It lets you create 30 second video snippets, complete with captions, suitable for sharing on social media. That way, you can post enticing bits of a podcast that are watchable without sound to share with your friends -- a win for consumers and producers alike.
Spotify continues to expand its lineup of podcast exclusives
Spotify has been on a tear as of late to build out the podcast side of its business, and it's adding another exclusive show to its lineup. The third season of sports-focused show Riggle's Picks, starring comedians Rob Riggle and Sarah Tiana, will only be available through Spotify.
Spotify signs the Obamas to an exclusive podcast deal
If it wasn't already clear by now, Spotify is betting big on podcasting and it's landed another huge catch with its latest deal. Higher Ground, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, will create exclusive podcasts for the streaming platform. Both Obamas will appear on some of the shows.
'Dateline' debuts the true crime podcast it should've had all along
The NBC News true crime series Dateline is muscling into Serial's territory for its latest story, as it has released a podcast. The show is called 13 Alibis, and it tells the tale of Richard Rosario, a man who served 20 years in prison for murder even though he said he had 13 alibi witnesses ready to testify to his innocence.
Soundtrap for Storytellers is Spotify's latest play for podcasters
Spotify has been snatching up companies left and right. One of the odder acquisitions was Soundtrap, an online music production tool. It just didn't really seem to fit with the rest of the company's moves. With Soundtrap for Storytellers, though, things are finally starting to come into focus. It's taken its audio editing and cloud-based collaborative chops, and used them to build something specifically for podcasters. Which, obviously, is something Spotify has become quite obsessed with. See: its recent purchases of Gimlet, Parcast and Anchor.
Bill and Chelsea Clinton are starting a podcast
The Clintons are getting into podcasting. Former president Bill and his daughter Chelsea, the vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, have revealed they're starting a show called Why Am I Telling You This?. It'll include conversations with the Clintons, foundation staff and guests. They'll "share their unique experiences and stories to help explain the factors shaping our interconnected world -- and why we should be optimistic about its future," according to the podcast description.
Spotify eyes more original podcasts with Parcast acquisition
Spotify promised more acquisitions after powering its way into the world of podcasts with its one-two buyouts of Gimlet and Anchor in February, which came on the back of its first-ever operating profit. Today it remained true to its word by announcing yet another deal, this time for podcast studio Parcast, a rising star of the industry that's been making waves on the Apple Podcasts chart. Spotify is keeping quiet about the financial details of the transaction.
The best audio editing software for beginning podcasters
By Al Griffin This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full audio editing software for beginning podcasters guide here. After 30 hours spent using and comparing audio editing software, we've found Audacity to be the best all-around option for beginners looking to create their own podcasts. The open-source Audacity runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers, and it's free, which eliminates one of the biggest stresses of trying out software. Audacity's user interface is bare-bones compared with that of its competition, including other free options like Apple's GarageBand, but it provides all the tools, features, and support you need to quickly and easily create great-sounding audio productions. It offers, by far, the best value of all the audio software we tested. While recording and editing in Audacity during our tests, we quickly realized that a powerful and feature-packed application lay beneath the software's stripped-down interface. Controls for setting up external equipment such as a USB microphone or audio interface are located in the main window for easy access. The main window also contains panels with everything you need to edit, monitor, and mix audio tracks. In addition, Audacity comes with a sophisticated suite of audio-processing effects to remove the noise, coughs, clicks, and other unwanted sounds that microphones can capture during recording. And although learning how to best apply those effects takes time, Audacity's thorough online manual, tutorials, and support forums will speed you through the process. It doesn't support MIDI or musical-instrument plug-ins, so it isn't the best choice for solo musicians looking to make finished musical tracks, but it is a complete package for anyone who just wants to experiment with recording audio. Like Audacity, Reaper packs a wide range of audio editing tools and audio processing effects. Reaper's interface is more sophisticated, though, and its MIDI-editing features make it a better option for anyone who wants to add their own music to their podcasts, or even for solo musicians/producers looking to make finished tracks at home. Reaper's wealth of features and customization options put it on the same level of functionality as industry-standard digital audio workstations (DAWs) like Cubase and Pro Tools, but at just $60 for an individual or nonprofit license at this writing, Reaper costs about a fifth as much—it's a tremendous deal. Compared with those programs, Reaper is highly approachable and easy to learn, with an extensive library of online help and video tutorials to get you up and running. Once you've learned the ropes of basic audio editing and you're ready to step up your game (that is, take your podcast to a larger audience), we recommend Adobe Audition CC, a powerful platform with an exhaustive range of tools to smooth out and sweeten the sound quality of recorded tracks. Its noise-reduction features in particular are top-notch, and its EQ tools go a step beyond those of the other software we evaluated for this guide. Audition is easy to use, with a clean user interface and a wide range of templates and presets, but it also offers a high level of customization. At $20 per month, or $240 per year, it isn't cheap, but it is the best podcast recording and editing software in that price range. If sound quality is your main concern, Audition is well worth the investment.
Spotify finally made a profit and spent big on its podcast future
Spotify is making big moves to secure its dominance in the music streaming market. As expected, the company is buying Gimlet Media, a New York-based podcast network that owns a range of popular shows including StartUp, Reply All, Crimetown and The Pitch. It's also acquiring Anchor -- a move we didn't see coming -- to help budding podcast creators record, publish and manage their own shows. Spotify didn't disclose the terms of either deal, but confirmed that both are expected to close this quarter. "These companies are best-in-class and together we will offer differentiated and original content," Spotify CEO Daniel EK said.
Spotify opens up its podcasts section to all
Spotify has opened up more to creators lately, with measures such as allowing independent artists to upload their music directly. The streaming service is extending a similar invitation to podcasters, by letting anyone (except maybe Alex Jones) add their shows to the podcast section.
NPR and public radio group buy popular podcast app Pocket Casts
NPR, This American Life, WNYC Studios and WBEZ Chicago have teamed up to buy Pocket Casts, a cross-platform podcast app. The public radio outlets hope to improve the podcast discovery experience, help creators find new audiences and improve insights for producers.
Anchor's new Cohost feature matches podcasters with similar interests
Less than two months after the the DIY podcasting app Anchor underwent a major revision, the service is ready to announce another notable new feature: Cohosts. As the name implies, Cohosts lets Anchor users quickly match up with others who want to talk about similar topics -- ideally, this will help facilitate group discussions, rather than forcing a podcaster to forge ahead on their own. Anchor was originally built as a community of users sharing audio, so letting those users get together to host a show fits with the app's social audio roots.
Pandora's CEO is doubling down on podcasts
By JP Mangalindan Pandora CEO Roger Lynch wants to offer listeners an easier way to discover new podcasts as the company adds more podcasts to its service and beefs up advertising. Indeed, podcasts will become a more significant aspect in the months and years ahead for Pandora, which has over 75 million monthly active users -- 5.5 million of which use Pandora's paid features and services. The key to growing those users, according to Lynch, who joined the company in September, is offering a more comprehensive catalog of content. "In the car, 80 percent of listening is music, while 20 percent is other stuff," Lynch explains to Yahoo Finance. "As a service, if you don't have that 20 percent, it doesn't mean you capture the 80 percent, because then people will just stay on their FM Radios. But if you can create audio content for people that gets packaged with the music content in a way that doesn't give them a reason to go back to that FM dial, then you capture much more than just the spoken word."
Skype's call recording feature is made for podcasters
Here's a little trade secret: podcasters and radio show hosts use Skype a lot. It's helpful for adding remote guests with minimal fuss. You usually need to synchronize with a third-party app or device to record the call at the quality you'd like, though, and that can be a pain to set up. Mercifully, Microsoft is aiming to fix that. It's readying a Skype for Content Creators mode that records calls directly through NDI-capable software like Wirecast, Xsplit and Vmix. The feature provides "clean" copies of all call participants that you can easily drop into audio and video production apps, so you can focus more on posting your show and less on double-checking everyone's recordings.
Anchor turns itself into a one-stop podcast creation app
Anchor started off as a social network for audio -- the app let users make quick, impromptu broadcasts to their followers straight from their phone. But the company started seeing more and more people using it to make full-on podcasts, so it added features to push Anchor recordings to Apple Podcasts and Google Play last summer. That turned the app into a one-stop shop for amateur podcasting. The success of that feature has led Anchor to fully re-do its app and mission. Its goal now is to remove all the pain points and costs of making a podcast, from start to finish.
Federal court steps in to protect podcasts from patent troll
The venerable podcast is the bastion of broadcasters big and small, from major news outlets to DIY publishers. But, for the last few years, this hallowed ground has come under threat from patent troll Personal Audio -- which has tried to sue podcasters of all sizes. It claims it created the concept of the podcast. Thankfully, the U.S. Court of Appeals disagrees. A three-judge panel of the court just affirmed a previous decision rendering Personal Audio's patent invalid. The ruling declares the company was trying to protect an invention that already existed. Meaning podcasters and listeners can rest easy, for now.
