> If I upload a podcast to Apple, it's physically inaccessible unless you have a Mac or an iOS device.
Unless I am misunderstanding your claim, this is not true.
You can listen to Apple Podcasts using iTunes for Windows. You can also listen to them on Android. But dealing with it on Android is indeed annoying, because it requires downloading podcasts in itunes on your desktop, and then manually transferring them to your Android phone after finding the locally stored files.
However, it is easy to sidestep all of that if the podcast creator just uploads to multiple podcast hosting platforms.
> requires downloading podcasts in itunes on your desktop, and then manually transferring them to your Android phone after finding the locally stored files.
TFA says they're DRMed, are they still readable on a random android client just by moving the files ?
That part of TFA confused me as well, because I just tested it out on my Win10 desktop, and it worked effortlessly.
I didn't even have to search for the local files. iTunes had a nice "Show in Windows Explorer" button next to the episode I downloaded, which opened a directory with the mp3 audio file for the episode (neatly tagged and named and all). I opened it with VLC and confirmed that the playback works perfectly fine.
Disclaimer: I haven't tested the part with transferring the file to an Android device specifically. But if an mp3 audio file plays fine in any third-party media player on Windows, I think it is safe to assume that it would play fine on Android as well.
Do you happen to have another example? This one doesn't work for me, but for an entirely different reason - it says that this specific podcast isn't available in the US store at the moment. So I cannot even access the episode on any device at all.
I am curious about how this works. Did you have to set some specific toggle to make it available on Apple Podcasts for Apple devices only? Or is this the standard flow for making a podcast available on Podcasts app? How do the other podcasts on the frontpage that are available for downloading on other devices do it?
Tangentially related, I wonder why it says "Apple Podcasts Preview" at the top of the page. Could it be that the app is just in the preview stage and just started the rollout with Apple devices first, with the support for other devices coming later through a web version (i.e., similar to how it was with Apple Music on the initial launch)?
When you click the option to add a podcast to Apple Podcasts in the Podcasts Connect portal, there's one option to use an RSS feed and one to host your show on Apple.
I believe "Apple Podcasts Preview" just means you're looking at the web view.
If I understand the comment chain correctly, they first tried a random "not hosted by Apple" podcast and could get the MP3, as expected. They were then directed to a "hosted by Apple" podcast and could not get an MP3. So the workaround does not work.
For sure, it's nice to know there's an out for people willing to work it out.
TBF, I'd assume the author knows there would be workarounds, like de-DRM the iTunes files. Or go full analog loophole style and rerecord the podcast audio etc.
The point was probably how shitty of an experience it stayed for people outside the Apple bubble (podcasts are really about convenience. I only started seriously listening to them once I got an iPhone, because of the sheer inconvenience of having to plug and drag files from my desktop for every new episode)
> The point was probably how shitty of an experience it stayed for people outside the Apple bubble
Could be, but they made it sound like those workarounds are required everywhere outside of Apple devices (which would include Windows as well). Which is painting a pretty different picture from what the reality is, as none of the workarounds are required on Windows, it is click and play just like on any Apple device.
You cannot download these podcast episodes as a file because they are protected with DRM. Seriously, find one of these shows and try getting a file from it
Are all podcasts protected this way or just some specific ones? Because I picked a random one from the front page of the podcast section in iTunes on Win10, and it worked for me with zero issues[0].
If you can find a podcast on Apple Podcasts for which the method I described in my other comment doesn't work, please post it here. Because it would feel kinda strange if Podcasts app applied DRM like this only to some specific podcasts and not all of them.
No: this isn't just any random podcast from the iTunes homepage. It only applies to podcasts which are hosted by Apple, not ones which Apple lists in its directory. This is a very small percentage of shows.
It shows on iTunes for PC just fine. I have confirmed in another reply in this thread that I was able to see the DRMd podcast episode posted by @bastawhiz on PC, but I was not able to download it.
Unless I am misunderstanding your claim, this is not true.
You can listen to Apple Podcasts using iTunes for Windows. You can also listen to them on Android. But dealing with it on Android is indeed annoying, because it requires downloading podcasts in itunes on your desktop, and then manually transferring them to your Android phone after finding the locally stored files.
However, it is easy to sidestep all of that if the podcast creator just uploads to multiple podcast hosting platforms.