I'm creating a forum account just to add my opinions to the discussion. Not that anything I've got to add hasn't been said already, I just want to stress that these issues are important to many of your listeners.
First off, I have absolutely no problem paying $5/month to support the Earwolf network. I already do the same for Maximum Fun. But I have to say that putting old episodes behind a paywall will undoubtedly make certain podcasts less accessible to new listeners. Just because it works for Maron doesn't mean it will work for the format of every podcast. Nerd Poker, Hollywood Handbook, and CBB in particular will be far less accessible than they were before.
Additionally, rolling out this service without an Android app available at launch is a pretty hard pill to swallow. Just the whole concept of having a separate podcast app forced on users is pretty hard, for me, to accept. I don't want to use two podcast apps. Nobody does. RSS links to allow users to listen in the app of their choice is absolutely needed.
Downloading the files to your device is the single biggest issue here. I understand wanting Howl to be a Netflix-like streaming service, but downloading files for offline listening is an essential feature of podcasts for many many listeners. Myself included.
I've read other people saying that episodes can be downloaded temporarily in the app(I'm unable to use it, on iOS7 and android), but not from the howl.fm site. I personally put a huge chunk of episodes on a USB drive and plug that straight in to the car's stereo for road trips. Sometimes I burn a CD full of my favorite episodes for a friend, to introduce them to a show I love that I think they will enjoy too. That's going to be impossible now, unless I only want to use new unarchived episodes.
Those are my complaints. I'm really hoping some or even all of them can be addressed, considering Howl has only just launched. That said, I'm genuinely happy for Earwolf and all the podcasters being able to make a little more money.
