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back to article Google silences podcast app Listen, disbands Team tool

Google has announced another cull of services it reckons won't be missed, including Google Listen. Podcast finder and playback utility Google Listen is among software axed by the web advertising giant, as there are plenty of other podcast apps available in the company's online Play store. "People now have access to a wider …

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  1. DaveTheRave

    iGoogle

    I'm still furious they are ditching iGoogle

    4 0
    1. M Gale
      Reply Icon

      Re: iGoogle

      Probably want you to go to Google+ to get something similar. Not that I'd know because I'm one of the people who want to join some Facebook clone about as much as they want to join Facebook, which is not very fucking much.

      1 1
  2. Sid James
    Thumb Down

    shame..

    Listen was quite useful!

    0 1
    1. Richard Morris
      Reply Icon

      Re: shame..

      I'll second that, can anyone recommend a replacement?

      0 1
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Joke

        Re: Re: shame..

        iHear by Apple.

        2 0

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      3. Fogcat
        Reply Icon
        Meh

        Re: shame..

        I liked the simplicity of Listen as well but I saw this coming and the lack of updates and poor re-ording options meant I started looking at alternatives a while ago. I've settled on BeyondPod which is a bit more singing and dancing than I wanted but isn't bad. Some of the alternatives in the market have hideous users interfaces.

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      4. OrganicInfo
        Reply Icon
        Holmes

        Re: shame..

        @Richard Morris

        I'm just about to take a look at Beyondpod (already mentioned by Fogcat) and Podkicker. Both offer an ad supported free/lite version (which I'll use to evaluate) with a paid non-ad option (which I'll purchase when I find the one that fits my needs).

        I've yet to check Beyondpod but I'm initially impressed with Podkickers prominent explanation of their privacy policy and explanation of required permissions listed in the description of Podkicker Pro.

        Listen was OK to get started with, they should opensource it so perhaps a community implementation might pickup similar to the "K-9 Mail" app.

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      5. Alan_Peery
        Reply Icon

        Re: shame..

        Try out Stitcher. While not very good for podcasts you already have (it may not even support them), it has a nice catalog of podcasts. Do be aware that Stitcher supports itself from charging for listing on its catalog, or perhaps for highlighted placement in the catalog. Not being a podcaster, I've not dug any further.

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  4. David Nash Silver badge

    I use Listen nearly every day. It's nicely short on features I don't need, unlike most of the recommended alternatives.

    If I can still subscribe to things via a URL found using other means then it's not so bad. The app was virtually never updated anyway.

    3 1
  5. Turtle

    "Get rid of the tool"? I don't think so.

    "...so the firm will convert folks to personal Google accounts and get rid of the tool."

    That does not seem right to me; I am pretty sure that the folks who get converted to "personal Google accounts' are the "tools" here.

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  6. roblightbody
    Unhappy

    I'll miss Listen

    I'll really miss Listen and as others have indicated above, very much appreciated its simplicity.

    I realised its shortfalls recently, however, when I purchased my 2nd Android device (Nexus 7 to add to my trusty SII) and that if I listened to a podcast on one device, the other device didn't know I had done... I'll be looking for something that can cope with this. Any recommendations?

    0 0
  7. JeffyPooh
    Pint

    Where is Google Internet Radio?

    Don't they index the web? What about a nice front page for all the world's Internet Radio streams? I'm frankly absolutely sick and tired of the "Pay" model (e.g. Live365) being applied to a simple index of streaming audio. If Google can index the world's porn, then they should index the world's Internet Radio too.

    1 0
  8. Rob Thorley

    Google Listen

    Well, I'm not sure the changes they are making will affect me.

    I use Google Reader to search for and subscribe to podcasts, and then the Listen app on my phone to, well, listen.

    The search function in Listen was always rubbish.

    0 0
  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I gave up on Listen nearly a year ago, no updates, crashing interface & useless search engine just made it a pain in the ass. For me PocketCast has now replaced it and it works quite well.

    0 0
  10. blcollier

    I'll miss this application...

    Real shame; Listen was one of those apps that I always installed on every device. All I need is something that: checks for new episodes of subscribed podcasts, downloads them for me, marks when I've listened to them, and resumes playback at the point I left off. The interface was a bit of a pain - tried ordering your podcast queue on the thing? - and if more than one new episode was available it only downloaded the most recent one automatically, but these limitations were quite small. It did what it needed to, wasn't overly complicated to use, tied my subscriptions to my Google account (so that I didn't have to re-subscribe every podcast on every new device) and wasn't infested with ads.

    I used the integrated search thing once and never again; as soon as it couldn't find one of my podcasts I started using the "old-fashioned" method of giving it a link to the RSS feed.

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