While discussing the future of podcasts on YouTube in its latest blog post, YouTube explained that YouTube Music wants to be “the ultimate destination for podcasters and fans.” However, even recent changes to improve the platform’s podcast listening experience seem to fall short of meeting users’ expectations.
YouTube Music focuses on podcasts, although users complain about basic shortcomings
Support offered by the platform includes support for third-party RSS podcasts, updating the Android Auto experience, advanced download options and customizable playlist sorting. However, users complain about the lack of these features as well as more basic features.
For example, users are complaining about the lack of simple features like “Mark as Played” and the lack of notifications for new episodes, while waiting for new podcast sorting filters that are not yet widely available. They also report difficulty discovering content, switching between podcasts and music, and creating queues and playlists.
On platforms like Reddit, users share their experiences listening to podcasts using YouTube Music. Many of these users have decided that YouTube Music is not a suitable platform for podcasts. While some have switched to alternative platforms, others are considering switching.
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Google’s decision to integrate the Podcasts application into YouTube Music has also caused criticism. Notably, users in the US were forced to switch to YouTube Music with the closure of the Podcasts app. However, it is clear that this transition did not find a positive response among users.
While YouTube Music’s desire to focus on podcasts is laudable, it seems like the platform needs to fix basic usability issues first to meet users’ demands. More efforts may be needed to meet users’ expectations and truly make the platform the “ultimate destination for podcasters and fans.”