QUESTIONS FOR SCOTT RE: HOWL

[SeveralCircles 426]

 

To be fair, it's not up to Shannon, which is why it would be nice if Adam or Scott would address it.

 

The "you" I meant in that case was more "Midroll Media". I definitely wrote that post as a cranky response to Shannon's phrasing, but I realize that ultimately it comes down to larger business decisions that even Scott is probably not a chief force behind, let alone a customer rep.

 

The freemium model of charging for expanded content--but then still including ads--is a strategy that probably works to get max revenue, I'm just not inspired to be supportive.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Now that the Howl Android app is out, I have a bit of feedback on it. I don't see any threads dedicated to it, so I'll just throw it in here and hope that someone sees it (or live in the delusion that someone cares).

 

First off, I love the look of the app. It's very intuitive, and it definitely runs smoother than the website on mobile.

 

A few suggestions:

• Media controls in notification bar. I'm not sure how to explain this exactly, but basically, any other media apps I use (Spotify, Google Music, Media Player, etc.) has the app show up in the notification bar. There are options to pause, skip forward/back, etc. Those options also show up on the lock screen. The biggest thing with this is that the OS recognizes the app as having media controls, so if I'm using headphones with button controls, I can pause the playback without having to unlock my phone and find the app.
  
• Playlists. This has been brought up before in this thread, but it's worth repeating. In my current podcast app (Podcast Addict), I can set playlists. So, let's say I want to listen to every CBB with Marisa Wompler because I heard the birthday episode last month and really want to get up to speed on all the Womp-lore. It would be great if I could go in and set a playlist, and then just let those episodes play. Instead, I have to go find the next episode each time. Not a huge deal, but considering that many podcasts apps have this functionality baked in, you probably need it to compete with them.
  
• "Lost" episodes. Weren't these supposed to be on Howl? I'm thinking specifically of the two HDTGM episodes that were removed (Green Lantern and Smurfs). Neither of those are on the app yet. Will those seem to be on Howl yet. Will those be added once the ad-free archives are implemented?
  

[Brian_Eno 119]

Artists are generally better when they are starving! Keep em starving I say! NO MONEY FOR CONTENT!

JK

 

1) Android is hard as hell to develop for. There are tons of different devices with different hardware and different versions of the Android OS. ( when you start writing code for android in the android IDE if you use the newest version it literally gives you a warning prompt that you'll be blacklisting around a billion people )

 

2) People who buy iOS spent a lot of money on their phone so it's assumable they have disposable income.

 

3) The Howl vehicle provides you with content you might have paid more for in the first place! ( albums live eps etc )

 

4) You can probably do the same thing I do with Netflix, get it for a couple of months and destroy all the content like a rabid content monster then cancel for a few months while they add content you are interested in!

 

5) CBB has been going for a long time and has possibly reached a point of saturation where it's becoming harder and harder to grow the listener base anyways so the ability for you to suggest podcasts to your friends that they should download just means they probably won't anyways cause they are lifeless dullards!

 

6) Also if Scott made true his words you can always point them to the Best Of Episodes

 

7) Getting a subscription makes me actually listen to more podcasts because I feel like I need to get my monies worth so I'm listening to all sorts of new crap!

 

8) This probably doesn't effect the average new listener much who looks at a top 10-20 list in comedy or whatever of podcasts and just downloads the very latest episode to see if they are into it.

 

9) Spotify pays like 0.008 of a cent per stream ( similar to Youtube ) I only hope these artists can get paid more than that!

 

My main gripe is that I hope this doesn't become all encompassing and puts all of the big named podcasts behind a paywall with only the last 1 or 2 episodes being available for free ( not free because ads, I bought blue apron, harrys, and other various things ) Which would kick in my Orwellian triggers! All that being said I fully support this endeavor.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

One other comment on the app:

 

It currently doesn't save where you are in an episode if the app closes. For example, I started listening to an episode on the way home from work Friday. I stopped it when I got home. Saturday, I went to a movie, so I turned my phone off, thus closing out the app. When I opened the app today, I had to go find where it had left off, because the episode was playing from the beginning.

[Shannon 2953]

Hey Fister Roboto,

 

That problem will be fixed when the update goes into Google Play either today or tomorrow