Podcast app Pocket Casts makes its web player free

Pocket Casts, the podcast app acquired by Automattic in 2021, is now making its web player free. The company says the move offers an alternative to the big platforms’ closed ecosystems, where algorithmic-driven content is prioritized and podcasts are kept behind paywalls. Podcasts were built on open technology — the open, decentralized standard RSS, which was designed to make online audio as well as other content, like news and blog posts — available to anyone on the web for free. Starting Tuesday, Pocket Casts will honor the open nature of podcasts by making its web player free to use. That means anyone can visit the Pocket Casts website and stream any episode they want, without having to pay a subscription fee or even creating an account. However, if users want to personalize their experience, they can create a free account to unlock features like syncing playback across web, mobile, and desktop devices; managing their queue; and saving their subscriptions and other preferences. ... Read full article.