Free and Open Source Software @beehaw.org ericjmorey @programming.dev 1 yr. ago

Migrating from Google Podcasts to AntennaPod: why and how to do it – AntennaPod

antennapod.org Migrating from Google Podcasts to AntennaPod: why and how to do it – AntennaPod

Other apps might come and go, but AntennaPod is always by your side!

Opensource @programming.dev ericjmorey @programming.dev 1 yr. ago

antennapod.org /blog/2023/11/google-podcasts-migration

56 comments

Antenna Pod is 10/10.
Been using AntennaPod for 2 years now. Amazing app.
I did the switch some times ago and I love AntennaPod. Still, I did not manage to have synchronization with a desktop service, and I miss that from Google Podcast.
- Exactly, a podcast app must be available in all your devices, I tried it and couldn't stick with it because of the same issue.
  
  Also it is the same issue I have with Pocketcasts because I don't pay a premium account and only sometimes I want to listen on the desktop.
- This is my main concern too.
  
  Also AntennaPod seems to be worse than Google Podcast at Bluetooth connections going into standby during conversational pauses creating jilted cutoffs.
  
  I have not experienced that, but have you tried the Skip silence in audio feature? It does a good job removing pauses in audio which would hopefully solve the problem you are experiencing.
- I've been using Samsung Dex or Windows 11's Phone Link to open the app on my desktop.
  
  Scrcpy now has audio forwarding too.
  
  it's a good workaround, but not a complete solution
- Gpodder2go has your back.
  
  https://github.com/oxtyped/gpodder2go
- I don't use sync but it has an option for "cloud sync" in the settings, "gpodder.net" and "gpoddersync" seem to be the only two options but maybe one of those will work.
Have always been curious about AntennaPod. Was about to switch from PocketCasts earlier this year but turns out PocketCasts became open source a little over a year ago, October 2022.

https://blog.pocketcasts.com/2022/10/19/pocket-casts-mobile-apps-are-now-open-source/

Still curious about AntennaPod but PocketCasts has been and continues to work super well and has a web/desktop (PWA) client so may just stick with it. Mobile app repos below btw.

https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-ios
- PocketCasts seems a bit more expensive than I'd like.
  
  I think it's usable for free though I'm not sure to what degree since I picked up a one time payment lifetime plus subscription some years ago. I see it's sadly now only free or monthly subscription. 😔
So people are actually using Google Podcasts? It's a pretty shit app for the use case.
- How so? It has fit my use case better than any other podcast app in the last 15 years.
  
  It's so basic, which is precisely why I like it.
  
  Ok, I just revisited it after a few years, and it seems kinda decent now, altho it's still pretty ugly. Back when I first tried it when it launched, it was as barebones as it could be. Adding new podcasts sucked, it had no trim silence option, no web app etc. Still tho, Pocket Casts is ahead of it even today.
  
  I never used Google podcasts. But I love antennacast.
- not for long since it's being shut down in 2024 :P
  
  I never understand why people choose formats meant for local consumption and then use centralized cloud services to consume it. Podcasts aren't the only example. RSS feed readers and git are others. If you want synchronization across devices, then use either a plain cloud storage or something even better - like syncthing.
Visit takeout.google.com and select Google Podcasts to export your Google Podcasts data in OPML format.

I wonder when that became a thing. I migrated at the beginning of the year and had to manually add all subscriptions because Google Podcasts had no way of exporting anything.

I guess someone made a GDPR complaint.
I use AntennaPod as it's the best Foss option but it's very buggy.
- I never had a single bug, please report bugs?
  
  That's my experience too. Never seen a single bug or crash.
  
  For me it just never shows the correct play time so podcasts will get to the end in app but still have like 10 minutes left to play. Also it has a habit of randomly skipping back 10 seconds every now and then.
- I liked it but until an annoying bug drove me to Podverse which is also pretty good.
- I don't see any, apart from the fact that AntennaPod's persistent notification for media playback doesn't respond if you leave it for too long. Have you tried Escapepod btw?
This has been a great alternative for me so far. Very straightforward and functional.
- I'm also looking into podverse
Antennapod is good enough and has a widget, but to be honest, it needs to be a lot better.

They need to implement podcast discovery. Just showing 20 separate podcasts with nothing else is clearly not enough.
- Lack of discovery is the least of my issues with AntennaPod, but that would be nice too.
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- Auto-downloads work wonderfully here and can even be set per-podcast which is such a nice feature.
  
  Not saying this to denigrate your experience but to perhaps soften the 'is horrific' notion into somewhat more of a 'does not work for you' one. Otherwise, I suppose Pocket Casts is also open source nowadays - or has always been and I did not notice? But that was a reasonably good alternative for me as well before I switched to AntennaPod.
  
  I have similar issues. Guess it's because I listen to vary long podcasts that I often don't finish, because there's a newer episode already. Because of that old episodes will be considered unfinished and block new ones from getting downloaded. Maybe if there download limit is set to e.g. 20 Antenna Pod should delete the oldest episode of the 20 downloaded and download the newest one when it gets released
  
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- Also sometimes it just literally does nothing. Push the play button and nothing at all happens.
  
  That's a bug with the notification/lockscreen widget AFAICT. Pressing play on the main player window should work. This is the most serious bug I've found. It's quite a promising player otherwise.
  
  I'm happy to know that Pocketcasts is OS now, that was my player of choice before trying to jump to Antennapod.
  
  Yeah, that bug is super unfortunate, it has been working flawlessly for me for years, this has only been an issue since the last update or two.
  
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- Unfortunately, that will be a better experience than Google Podcasts in 2024. Always looking for better options. Let me know if you know of any.
  
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- I've never had an issue with this. And no, I don't know how to help you. Contacting the devs would be your best hope.
  
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I've been listening to Podcasts lately and went straight to Google Podcasts, Love the Platform sad to see it go. Will be looking for another platform that can allow me to listen both on PC as well as Phone, This is sadly not it as doesn't seem to have a Desktop app / site
- That's the advantage of solutions like antenna pod. There just isn't any platform that could be shut down
  
  I'll keep that in mind and check it out. Hopefully the developers can create something for PC / Web as it would be great to keep on listening on my PC when working.
works fine
I use podverse. Technically, you could use google podcasts like a search engine and just subscribe directly to the podcast's rss feed.
- I've been trying out podverse since another commenter mentioned it. I didn't know about it before.

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