It was still MP3, but I tried VBR encoding.
In 2016, I wrote: https://marco.org/2016/08/15/vbr-mp3-plea
ATP: https://atp.fm/182
It worked! The following year's Apple OSes (iOS 11+) implemented support for all three VBR-seek-table standards — MLLT, VBRI, and Xing/LAME-tag.
ATP: https://atp.fm/228
But when I later tried releasing ATP in VBR with all three tags, we got so many problem reports from Android users that I went back to CBR after one episode:
https://atp.fm/244
https://ioc.exchange/@whophd/113717975279161741
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I've never thought to try it again.
The same benefits and risks would still apply. CBR is INCREDIBLY wasteful for podcasts, but I bet lots of platforms still don't seek properly in long VBR MP3s.
One solution could be adding multi-enclosure-format support to the podcast ecosystem, where we offer modern clients a list of formats and let them pick more advanced ones if they support them.
But I bet ZERO big DAI platforms, and therefore zero popular podcasts, would support it.
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I'd say podcast tech "moves very slowly", but even that's generous — podcast tech hardly moves at all.
But that's a GOOD THING!
Most efforts to move podcast tech "forward" have failed due to insufficient adoption. But most would’ve meant more potential for platform lock-in and increased ad-tech and tracking possibilities, either by design or as unintended consequences.
Podcasts' technical simplicity is not a problem to be solved — it's a defense from platform vultures and ad-tech assholes.
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@marcoarment in a modern world inefficiency is often the only shield the system offers us to protect against its tyranny
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@marcoarment Sounds like a double-edged sword. The lack of change may well also be the reason other silo-ed platforms (e.g. Spotify) can continue to add features; which open podcast players/clients cannot add (or would be too expensive or complex to add). seems like monetization, and the hack that is private feed URLs we use in open podcasts to implement this, is one such example.
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@marcoarment there are companies trying to move the industry forward and not be so reliant on ad-tech. Like us at PodToo and our SecureRSS technology.
Would love to have a chat with you about it and how we can work together.
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@marcoarment It feels like there should be a consortium of companies that make podcast clients. Getting that together might be a clusterf, but it would be a chance for you to set it up so the huge platforms have a minority say.
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@marcoarment it's not limited to podcasts either - most major streaming platforms still require you to feed them CBR video streams which is equally wasteful and taxing on their streamers uplink and their ingress servers but apparently easier on their live transcoding??
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@marcoarment I'm starting to worry a bit about some platforms (BBC, NY Times) putting their archives behind paywalls that are exclusive to Podcast platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. I suspect this is going to become more common and Overcast is going to be locked out of paywalled archives, even to source subscribers. I can live with Apple Podcasts in a pinch but Spotify is no bueno because of Joe Rogan.
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@SwampYankee @marcoarment The ABC in Australia is constantly exhorting listeners to download their app; it’s annoying. I prefer open protocols not proprietary apps. I’m scared that if I use their app they’ll get rid of rss feeds for their podcasts altogether.
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@marcoarment yup. Podcast "technology" is really just RSS feeds that were written by hackers to spread information (dark history about that). Its like asking why the ls command in unix hasn't been updated with ai improvements. Because it works fine.... move on.
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@marcoarment Obviously it's time to add reencoding to VBR to Overcast! Think of the opportunity for space savings for weirdos like me who hoard gigabytes of stuff for years before listening.
(I'm 98% kidding but I bet my iPhone 15 Pro would reencode notably faster than the 2x real time I was so thrilled to get when ripping CDs to 128k back in the late 90s)
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@marcoarment I can think of one - though vbr? Better options exist
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@marcoarment HLS seems like it would be great for podcasts. It even has extensive support for proper dynamic ad insertion.
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@david @marcoarment sure, but you’d need to change the feed to point to a playlist (rather than the media file), which basically zero podcast players will support for years to come.
Think of all the weird ways people listen to podcasts — car entertainment systems, for instance.
And that’s before you get to podcast production software setups, which even at big companies are very primitive.
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