EPISODE 370 — The Brochelor

[blank 35]

I agree that the feeling is kinda a let down due to the fact that they say that only the last six months of shows will be available, although as of right now it looks like they are all still downloadable. If they had launched this without that restriction I would feel a lot better about it.

From the Howl app page: https://itunes.apple...d984343503?mt=8

"Listen instantly by downloading or streaming. Favorite shows you love so you know the instant new episodes are available. Read the latest tweets from hosts and listeners, view behind-the-scenes photos, and discuss shows in the forums.

 

ALL OF EARWOLF AND WOLFPOP

- Stream and download all Earwolf and Wolfpop podcasts that have been released in the past 6 months."

I would assume the premium would also include downloading but I wonder what's to stop someone (not me ) from joining the free trial and downloading all the bonus shows I can, and then canceling my membership.

 

yeah, that's sad that this announcement for me turned into: Ok, How can I figure out a way to get around this.

I absolutely get it, creating new content is important and being able to fund it is too. I'll gladly pay a subscription for Earwolf, since it's probably my favourite form of entertainment out there. But no Android app at launch is just bad...

[Bernard_Shakey 3484]

I've purchased a lot of bonus eps of CBB and Superego in the past, but I don't think I've ever spent $60 in one year.

I'll probably wait until the Android app is available and then sign up for premium anyway, mostly because I love Earwolf and I do believe that "the new model will allow Howl to produce and distribute original exclusive shows in experimental formats."

What Adam Sachs says in this article is compelling.

(Just don't shelf the classic eps Earwolf. Keep 'em all available without a subscription.)

 

 

http://www.fastcompany.com/3049750/most-creative-people/is-howl-the-netflix-of-podcasts-weve-been-waiting-for

"What we were looking for is a way for us to continue to evolve the medium," says Midroll CEO Adam Sachs. "One limiting factor is that if you want to create a viable podcast, you really need to create a show that is long running, has a cost structure where the costs can stay relatively low and you can do 30-50 episodes per year, build up an audience, get ad sponsorships. And that's great, we built a successful business based on that. But we see big opportunity for more premium content or more experimental content, or working with talent that otherwise wouldn't commit to doing 50 episodes per year if we could create a subscription service."

Experimenting with format, Sachs says, has allowed Midroll to commission exclusive content without committing to deliver a minimum number of episodes. "We have documentaries that are a single episode of an hour and five minutes long, and there is only going to be a single episode," he says. "You could never afford to make an audio documentary that was just an hour long because you would never be able to monetize that with ads."

[Haze 112]

Premium RSS feeds still need to be a thing. Either that or the howl app needs to be on everything, phones, desktop apps, Chromecast, Roku. Even with the website listening options are painfully limited right now.

 

iTunes on desktop is still the best podcatcher option. Big old hard drive so you aren't constantly having to delete things, auto downloads so you never have to worry about missing anything.

 

I'll also say this, I will pay for this but I am doing it begrudgingly. You can't start charging for something you have been doing free for many many years and expect people not to be annoyed. This also opens the door for multiple premium podcast services. If that happens podcast listening could become as or more expensive than movie or music streaming. This move could prove disruptive in the worst kind of way. I'm sure E.W. Scripps had this in mind from the begging, purchasing the company was just their was of ensuring they had content.

 

Either way I love and support Earwolf but I do not consider this a good thing. As a listener and a person with limited funds this really isn't a good thing.

[zoankkambie 887]

(Just don't shelf the classic eps Earwolf. Keep 'em all available without a subscription.)

To quote Shannon from another topic: "That is correct. New episodes of Earwolf and Wolfpop shows, as well as the latest 6 months of episodes will stay free and exactly where they are. Anything older will be ad-free and available only on Howl Premium."

 

I'm not super psyched about not being able to listen old episodes without Howl Premium, but will have to test the site/app before making more definitive statement.

[StanSitwell 811]

Yeah I am a stingy low middle class poor working full time, trying to fund a future life but listening to so many earwolf podcasts for free makes it easy for me to make the decision to go see Scott do CBB live when it showed up in my city, and go see Howie Kremer perform live, buy people's CD's, buy a CBB TV DVD. If I end up paying monthly or annually for access to podcasts, I would definitely stop being such a merch and tour supporter of Earwolf alums.

 

I am not going to be so bold as to say if you start something free and then ask for money for it, you're a jerk... that's just the way things go sometimes. They need to build a viewer/listener base and get them attached to something before they could ever expect anyone to pay money, but I'm afraid to listen to this episode now that I know it will have info that will be hard for my ears and wallet to swallow

[Henry 3777]

There are rumors buzzing around that Howl is named thusly because Earwolf has the word "wolf" in it and "Howl" is the sound wolves like making the most. Any confirmation on this?

[VajayjayLeno 336]

No one has time for your terrible conspiracy theories.

[Haze 112]

Also the app and the website don't seem to sync and there seems to be no way of searching the website.

[Haze 112]

Yeah I am a stingy low middle class poor working full time, trying to fund a future life but listening to so many earwolf podcasts for free makes it easy for me to make the decision to go see Scott do CBB live when it showed up in my city, and go see Howie Kremer perform live, buy people's CD's, buy a CBB TV DVD. If I end up paying monthly or annually for access to podcasts, I would definitely stop being such a merch and tour supporter of Earwolf alums.

 

I am not going to be so bold as to say if you start something free and then ask for money for it, you're a jerk... that's just the way things go sometimes. They need to build a viewer/listener base and get them attached to something before they could ever expect anyone to pay money, but I'm afraid to listen to this episode now that I know it will have info that will be hard for my ears and wallet to swallow

 

Jerk no. Not great for the listener? Maybe.

[VajayjayLeno 336]

I think a lot of complaints on the technical side are one of those things where it's something that should've been fixed before launch but will definitely be fixed if this is going to be a success, so I'm not actually worried too much about it.

 

It does position Midroll/Earwolf to be a content gatekeeper rather than merely a content provider, though. Which is always a bitter pill to swallow. Podcasting, as a medium, has always been a very open, democratic thing and someone positioning themselves as the corporate entity controlling it is a really big shift. On the other hand, creating high-quality content isn't free for the creators and a lot of great content really probably is being left uncreated because of that limitation. It's a reflection of the great struggle of the internet at large and I don't think there's a satisfactory easy answer. I do believe that Midroll isn't doing this as a soulless corporate entity concerned only with money and that they really do have good intentions as part of their motivation. I hope, however, that they'll be flexible moving forward to really figure out what the best solution is.

[SteveH 11126]

complaining about the app aside - this was a great ep. Matt Gourley is a hilarious delight and a treasure (but also an integral part of the evil corporate conspiracy to steal your free content from you!!)

[itsrobobo 78]

Grepisode, and I'm excited for Howl. Forgotten Classics sounds great.

 

However, not excited about old episodes going behind a pay wall... Primarily because I try to get people into my favorite Earwolf shows by linking to past episodes I love or ones I know they'll love. Like recently I sent a friend links to all the Victor and Tiny eps because she loves Small. I'm afraid that may be a big detterant to new people, despite things not being a narrative. But I suppose time will tell.

[Conzea 62]

Urggh just wrote a big screed about how I hate that you can't download episodes but I think you can. My bad.

[SteveH 11126]

for all you androids out there, there are real reasons the Howl app and soooo many others are available on iTunes, but not Google Play, and it's not because Earwolf hates you.

 

 

"Developing iOS apps means ensuring they work nicely on a small range of iPhones and/or iPads: generally 6-8 different devices depending how far back the developer wants to go.

 

On Android, it's a different story: nearly 12,000 different devices out there in the hands of people, with a wider range of screen sizes, processors and versions of the Android software still in use."

 

 

 

"Piracy on Android is a fact: developers of paid apps who keep a close eye on their analytics often notice lots more people using them than have actually bought them on a store like Google Play. Games suffer in particular from this."

 

 

 

in summation, Androids and Pirates are to blame, so take it up with them (but be careful!)

[Haze 112]

I think a lot of complaints on the technical side are one of those things where it's something that should've been fixed before launch but will definitely be fixed if this is going to be a success, so I'm not actually worried too much about it.

 

It does position Midroll/Earwolf to be a content gatekeeper rather than merely a content provider, though. Which is always a bitter pill to swallow. Podcasting, as a medium, has always been a very open, democratic thing and someone positioning themselves as the corporate entity controlling it is a really big shift. On the other hand, creating high-quality content isn't free for the creators and a lot of great content really probably is being left uncreated because of that limitation. It's a reflection of the great struggle of the internet at large and I don't think there's a satisfactory easy answer. I do believe that Midroll isn't doing this as a soulless corporate entity concerned only with money and that they really do have good intentions as part of their motivation. I hope, however, that they'll be flexible moving forward to really figure out what the best solution is.

 

I disagree. E.W. Scripps wanted to take a stab at monetising the podcast market, bought a large podcast producer and went ahead with it. That just how business is.

 

Now many people will say €4.99 a month (because according the American business the Euro and the dollar are worth the same) isn't that much. Well as my grandmother would have said a fiver is a lot when you haven't got it. Also a fiver is a lot when ever other entertainment source on the internet is also charge a fiver.

 

Also say this, I have seen website after website after website (and one radiostation) get bought out by a larger company and completely ruined. Putting up paywalls that alienate the community, altering the websites style to appeal to a larger audience or bring it in line with a corporate vision. In fact the only website I can think of where a buyout didn't ruin everything was Giantbomb.com and I'm not sure Earwolf has a Jeff Gerstmann.

 

Edit: And to eco what everyone else has been saying putting old episodes the behind the paywall was a very bad idea. It made an already bitter pill even harder to swallow.

[Haze 112]

for all you androids out there, there are real reasons the Howl app and soooo many others are available on iTunes, but not Google Play, and it's not because Earwolf hates you.

 

 

"Developing iOS apps means ensuring they work nicely on a small range of iPhones and/or iPads: generally 6-8 different devices depending how far back the developer wants to go.

 

On Android, it's a different story: nearly 12,000 different devices out there in the hands of people, with a wider range of screen sizes, processors and versions of the Android software still in use."

 

 

 

"Piracy on Android is a fact: developers of paid apps who keep a close eye on their analytics often notice lots more people using them than have actually bought them on a store like Google Play. Games suffer in particular from this."

 

 

 

in summation, Androids and Pirates are to blame, so take it up with them (but be careful!)

 

Piracy is not a concern for subscription service though. You could torrent the (free) app but you couldn't use androids freedom powers to knock down the paywall.

[seanotron 2307]

[flimsy-von-reebles 48]

Gee, this Howl app sounds interesting. Oh, but its only on iOS and neglects half of all phone users.

 

And the 3 of us who have a Windows phone.

[AndyPacheco-Fores 437]

As one of the 80% of smartphone owners who uses an Android phone, I reject all calls to stop whining. For too long, we silent majority have been treated as second class app citizens. Ignored by these elitist Hollywood jerks because we refused to bow down. Cast aside because we chose to be individuals. Crush underheel because we're too poor to buy an iPhone. No longer.

 

I make my stand here. I refuse to pay for CBB anymore until Android has a Howl app.

 

Anymore????

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

I know this is not HDTGM but PTF was right at the beginning of the ep. where he remembered a reality tv show where Brody Jenner was looking for a male friend for his entourage... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1244881/ So good luck trying to get "The Brochelor" off the ground whithout being sued

 

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

It just comes down to this for me. Earwolf wants $5.00 a month from me? Earwolf gets $5.00 a month from me.

[crumbcake 104]

Another broke commuter with an Android phone here voicing my concern. I didn't care about the live episodes being available, since I had already bought them all, but as soon as they announced that new Gourley/Tompkins podcast, I was ready to sign up for this - before realizing I had no app to download. Then I saw there was a site, so I signed up there and... there's no way to download the episodes.

 

I have a 40 minutes subway commute each way every day, and I have spent every one (alright, maybe 99%) of those rides listening to (again, 99%) Earwolf podcasts. I got into these shows specifically because I could download them, and this goes back beyond this commute. Even driving back and forth from school (2.5 hrs) between 2010 and 2013, I would listen downloaded episodes because I had a shitty phone that would freeze when streaming. Having access to the old episodes was also a major factor, since I'd always go through the backlogs of podcasts I'd never listened to to check out episodes with guests I knew I enjoyed. That's how I started listening to improv4humans, Hollywood Handbook, and the late Professor Blastoff (the first two of which I've listened to every episode now, many of them twice). Since I've caught up on these now, and listen to each episode the day it drops, I still manage to run out of new episodes to listen to through the day, and as a result still download and relisten to old episodes regularly. Yesterday I listened to Lance Bangs' UTU2TM, and I listened to two Reality Show Shows the day before that.

 

I'm also worried about their touting 'ad-free' episodes. For the longest time, the ads were an equally entertaining part of the podcasts, which I thought was the whole key to their effectiveness (if I had any money to spend, I'd be throwing it at MeUndies thanks to PFTs efforts). But what with the corporate takeover, is this signaling a shift to more controlled advertising? The kind you want to skip?

 

I guess, looking at what I've written, I'm realizing that it's more my problem than theirs the unreasonable amount of content I consume, but I just wanted to throw my voice in with the rest of the concerned here. I recognize how much amazing free comedy Earwolf has provided me, and I'm fully ready to give them my money, but I don't want these podcasts to get caught up in the corporate DRM/proprietary bullshit that drove me away from iTunes and Apple in the first place.

 

 

Whinging aside - man! what a great episode! Always glad when PFT can drop by the studio, it's just a shame he so often has to leave halfway through.

[Haze 112]

That another thing, there is no way to download DRM free copies of these podcasts. DRM'd podcasts, not something I am happy to see.

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

Uh oh. What do people think about the thing happening on Twitter with the guy who has been doing a very similar 'Forgotten Classics' podcast for a couple of years?

[Haze 112]

Uh oh. What do people think about the thing happening on Twitter with the guy who has been doing a very similar 'Forgotten Classics' podcast for a couple of years?

 

Who did the what now?