What it’s essential to know
- Google beforehand introduced that Podcasts would shut down “after April 2,” and the service began to shutter Thursday, April 4.
- Each the Android app and net consumer for Google Podcasts exhibits a “Google Podcasts is not obtainable” pop-up, however the web site can nonetheless play podcasts in the meanwhile.
- YouTube Music will exchange Google Podcasts within the Google ecosystem, and customers have till July 30 to port their Podcasts information to a different platform.
One other fan-favorite Google app is shutting down for good, as Google Podcasts is not obtainable within the U.S. Google primed customers for the discontinuation of Podcasts for months, saying late final yr that the service could be closed “after April 2.” Now, as of Thursday, April 4, each the Podcasts app and net consumer are displaying messages that “Google Podcasts is not obtainable.”
The Google Podcasts app for Android does not work anymore and solely presents customers the choice to export their podcasts or be taught extra in regards to the shutdown in a support document. Although the web site exhibits the identical pop-up message, you possibly can shut the message and preserve utilizing Google Podcasts on the net consumer in the meanwhile. It is solely a matter of time earlier than Google blocks entry to Podcasts altogether, and we would not rely on the web site working for for much longer.
Google sees YouTube Music, the music streaming service that added help for podcasts final yr, as the way forward for podcast distribution for the corporate. YouTube Music is making an attempt to comply with an identical mannequin to Spotify, which hosts podcasts along with its foremost income supply — music streaming. The final concept is that you simply’re extra prone to subscribe to one in all these providers if you will get all you want in a single place, together with music, podcasts, and even audiobooks.
The jury continues to be out on whether or not customers truly choose this as a result of many have expressed their disappointment with the choice to kill off Google Podcasts. Having a number of media sorts in a single place would possibly sound like a good suggestion, nevertheless it additionally makes navigating an app like YouTube Music tougher.
Google Podcast customers have the prospect to export their information to a different service up till July 30, 2024. Now we have a information on exporting Google Podcasts information to YouTube Music, in addition to one explaining how one can migrate Google Podcasts information to a third-party service. For what it is value, folks can take heed to podcasts on YouTube Music and not using a subscription. Nevertheless, the app continues to be much less optimized for podcast distribution than Google Podcast was, missing options like new episode notifications.
Google has an notorious repute for killing off services early and infrequently. After a virtually six-year run, Google Podcasts is now part of that repute.