this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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Oh good I get to pay a dollar more every month to have unremovable ads for podcasts shoved in my face
Ads are so ubiquitous that I feel many of us don't even recognize we're being advertised to anymore
Or you use a good adblocker and then get extremely irritated when you once in a while have to listen to an ad ;)
Yep. Between ad blockers/sponsorblock and my content choices it's actually extremely rare that I encounter any traditional advertising. I don't even know how I used to sit through the old cable TV ads. Now I'm already searching for something else to do 5 seconds in
Yeah, same :D
Sponsorblock for YouTube was a game changer for me. Highly recommend it to everyone.
You just gotta stop listening to podcasts in Spotify. They’re hands down the worst listening experience for them.
You might want to re-read my comment. The operative term there is "for."
Ads for podcasts, not in podcasts
I don't listen to podcasts, and if I did, I certainly wouldn't listen to any with sponsorships or other ads
If the ads are baked in, just hit the 15s jump button a couple of times until you get back into the podcast. The ones I listen to usually play music during the ads, so when I hear the music is over I know I'm back in the podcast.
This is a completely different topic than what I'm talking about in my comment. I'm referring to the ads for podcasts that appear on the homescreen and can't be blocked disabled.
I don't listen to podcasts, and if I did I'd simply not listen to those with ads, including sponsorships. Regardless, I thought the whole point of podcasts is you can listen to them hands-free, so your skipping forward solution doesn't seem very practical.
Sorry, didn't realize you were referring to promos that Spotify runs for their content. Yeah I guess they don't have a way to turn that off, but it's a simple button to get past.
Also, fast forwarding really is not a big deal. While I'm out walking my dog and kiddo I just tap my ear buds twice and it fast forwards 15 seconds past the baked in ads in the podcast.
Oh god, I hate gesture-based earbuds. I painted over mine with clear nail polish because I've never once had them respond in such a way that I find helpful. Someone will invariably start yakking at me, then I have to remove an earbud, and they'll skip tracks, power down, or do all kinds of crazy shit.
Regardless, it actually is a big deal to me that I'm having unwanted ads shoved in my face the moment I launch the app. That is not acceptable, and it's disturbing that you seem to think it's normal. I pay their supposedly "ad-free" plan to get ads? Fuck that.
Pretty sure the only ads on spotify podcasts are the ones built in to the podcast recording, like the audio file includes the ads
At least i never get any ads from spotify listening to podcasts, unless the people doing the podcast have ads
I don't listen to podcasts, although you are correct that many podcasters are paid to promote products, which is itself a form of advertising.
I'm talking about the shelf that appears on my homescreen that is used to promote podcasts, which is also a form of advertising , aka an ad
Ah i see. Idk if i'd call that an ad any more than any other recommended playlist or album on the home page being called an ad
You may not call it an ad, but that's what it is
They are using it to promote a product
I wish I could turn off all the algorithmic recommendations tbh. It's all an intrusive form of advertising, but I especially resent having podcasts shoved at me in my music app.
Well yeah, reflecting on what you're saying i think any recommendation on the home page is an ad. But I agree the podcasts are more intrusive, especially if you never listen to them.
Why don't you just stick to the search or library tab if you don't want the recommendations on the home page? Ideally they'd have an option to set the default tab, but if you don't want any recommendations they're pretty easy to avoid
Oh my gods, are you joking? When I launch the app on my android device, it defaults to the homepage. I've actually contacted Spotify about this and there is no way to change this, so in what fictional fantasy world are you living that I can "just stick to the search or library tab" when literally launching the app defaults to the homescreen? Am I talking to a bot?
Oh sure, let me use uBlock Origin to just zap all these shelves. Oh wait, now I can't see any albums.
I'm not talking out my ass here, so I'd appreciate it if you just let me vent about how shitty Spotify is with their crappy features that are unable to be customized in any way. Why not? BECAUSE THEY ARE USING IT TO ADVERTISE, EVEN THOUGH I'M PAYING A SUBSCRIPTION. I DO NOT want ads, no shelves, no recommendations, no algorithm, and honestly? Maybe I just don't want Spotify. They don't even pay artists that much anyway, so I could just as well pirate like I do for movies and shows ever since Netflix went wack.
Sorry, I didn't realize you were just trying to vent. I agree that they should have some kind of option to default to a different tab, or some better solution. They do a lot of shitty and annoying stuff as a company. But also, it's not really a fictional world to just stick to those tabs, it's more like an extra tap once the app opens. You might even be able to set up a tasker thing or something like smart autoclicker on fdroid to immediately switch tabs as soon as the app opens
Yeah sorry for coming on strong, but I've got a lot of resentment for Spotify. It was good, but it's becoming enshittified along with everything else.
Honestly, there are alternatives that don't require a subscription at all. Most of them don't allow local downloading, which used to be inconvenient, but now we have unlimited mobile data, so it would be so easy to switch.
For the record, I like supporting artists, which is why I do buy physical media from independent record labels and the like, which is a much better way to support them than Spotify.
The tasker idea is worth researching, though. I'll look into it. At the end of the day, it would be really nice if I didn't feel compelled to switch. I've put a lot of time and effort into my playlists.
Do you have any recommendations for alternatives? I remember looking into it a bit ago and not really finding one I liked, but would be interested in making a switch. EDIT: on iOS, if that matters
I think iOS has significantly fewer alternatives than Android since (correct me if I'm wrong but) I think you are limited to the Apple Store. You could look into some of these.
Android has apps like Spotube, which has all the essential features of Spotify for free, or even LibreTube or NewPipe can be used as music apps.
I saw someone comment on reddit a couple months ago that Apple may start allowing side-loading apps. That would open up a lot of doors, and I hope it's accurate, though who knows if the user was correct.
Thanks for the reply! Yeah I do a lot of listening on my work phone (the iOS one), might just need to settle for doing more media playing on my old Android.
Y'know what? That's actually something I should do as well. I have a Galaxy S8 that is no longer in service but would work perfect well as a dedicated media player, and then I wouldn't have my listening interrupted by email and text notifications.
afaik, podcasts can choose to have ads (I don't mean sponsorships) enabled. most podcasts I listen to have sponsorships, but for example the lateral podcast from tom scott actually has 'real' ads in it, even with premium.
couldn't agree with you more. it can't be that hard to give us an opt-out of podcasts altogether. there's been an item for that on their feature request forum for as long as podcasts in spotify are a thing
they just don't want to
They've got to be getting paid to show it. I can't see any other reason to force it, considering how many people are unhappy with it.