Google was never that big into podcasts, although it did have
Google Listen way back in 2012 as a quick means to search and listen to thousands of audio sources. After it was discontinued, podcasts made a quiet return
via Google Play Music in the summer of 2016. (I know, not the most ideal home, but hey, Spotify has it too!) But early this year, there were subtle indications that Google was completely
rethinking its approach: podcasts began popping up in search results, in Google Assistant and in the Google search app. Today, the search behemoth has gone one step further and announced a standalone
Podcasts app for Android (there is no iOS app for now, but you can still use Google Assistant to listen to your favourite podcasts), which is nothing more than a glorified shortcut to launch the functionality inside the Google app. In its current state,
it's bare-bones but gets the job done, if that's what you want. However if you are after advanced features like automatic downloads, playlist organisation and more, you are better off sticking to Google Play Music for
now, if only until
Google shuts it down sometime
next year.
Comments
Post a Comment