Stitcher: My Favorite App
I have a recording of myself as a kid saying, “I love listening to grown people talk.” Even as a grown-up, it’s still true! I still love listing to people talk. I rarely listen to music. Music tends to make me emotional, but I can listen to talk from morning to bedtime. That may give you some insight into why I got involved in podcasting as soon as it became a thing.
iTunes made podcasting accessible to a large audience, but it isn’t the best way to get audio podcasts anymore. The best way is an App called Stitcher. Install the free App on your phone (iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Palm) and start searching for audio shows you like. Favorite a show and it’s added to a list. After you’ve built up your list, hit play and enjoy! It stitches shows together and plays them back to back. It’s a wonderful thing!
Stitcher is a great way to consume audio, especially if your taste is diverse. I hit play on a Monday morning and hear TWiT, No Agenda, The Splendid Table, WTF with Marc Maron, This Week in Start-ups, Studio 360, The Trending Show and a long, long list of NPR shows. Stitcher automatically moves down your list and plays the most recent unplayed episode. I love going from tech to comedy to a foodie show to politics without having to choose what to play next after the last podcast ends. It’s as if, I’ve been given my own talk radio station and the budget to program it with all the shows I love.
One of the best things about Stitcher is it remembers where you pause. For podcast playback that’s to be expected, but since the file streams through the App, I was pleasantly surprised to have that as a feature.
As a new media guy, I’m not a fan of the way conservative talk hosts charge for access to the podcasts of their shows, but Stitcher supports those paid accounts. It would rock my world if Stitcher did a deal with Sirius. I’d gladly pay to get Howard Stern through Stitcher.
Stitcher isn’t perfect, but it’s improving all the time. Show notes are an important part of podcasts. They feature information about guest and links to things talked about on the show. The Stitcher App only displays part of a show’s notes and there’s no way to see more. Not every podcast I love is available, and I’m pretty sure if a podcast isn’t available through Stitcher, it’s because the podcaster hasn’t signed up to make it available.
There is a browser player but it’s nowhere near as slick as the app yet. The browser player doesn’t remember playback position, and if you browse for new shows, it stops playing what you’re listening to.
If you like audio podcast, you have to get the Stitcher App! It’s free and all kinds of awesome!
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