5 Uncommon Ways to Discover Podcasts Worth Listening To
It's easy to find the most popular podcasts. But if you're looking for more, these sites and apps will recommend awesome podcasts that you won't find easily.
Podcast Insights says there are currently 1.9 million active podcasts and over 47 million episodes. And most sites only showcase the same repetitive list of popular and well-advertised podcasts. How do you find those hidden gems that are worth listening to? From machine-learning and social networks to good old-fashioned newsletters, here are some non-traditional ways to find podcasts you'll love.
1. Podcatr (Web): Directory of Podcasts With In-Depth Categories and Sub-Categories
There are plenty of podcast directories on the internet to find awesome Podcast recommendations. But generally, what you'll find are the same popular shows across such sites. If you're looking for something specific, Podcatr is a good bet to discover new podcasts.
Podcatr uses machine-learning to sort and categorize podcasts by analyzing their descriptions. It gives more value to fresh podcasts than popular ones and categorizes them according to its own set of rules.
The end result is a site with deep categories. The broad five categories are Narrative, Talk Shows, How To, Music, and News. In each, you'll find a range of sub-categories, and you can keep refining by clicking See More when you find a sub-category you like, filtering by language, region, genre, and more.
2. Repod (Android, iOS): Social Network With Podcast Charts and Recommendations
Repod is a place to meet podcast lovers with similar tastes to yours, and get their recommendations on shows or discuss the latest episodes. Along with that, you can also follow, download, and listen to podcasts much like any of the best podcast apps.
When you register for Repod, you can import an existing library from other podcast apps, or build a new one. You also select interests like True Crime, History, Movies and TV, and so on.
The main feed shows posts from people with similar interests. You can also post in this feed by either recommending an episode or podcast, or asking for recommendations from others. As with any social network, people can comment on anyone's post.
The Explore tab is the engine to discover new podcasts by categories, charts, or the current Featured Show. The charts display the top-rated podcast episodes on Repod every month, year, or all-time.
Download: Repod for Android | iOS (Free)
3. Podcast Brunch Club (Web): Book Club for Podcasts With Monthly Recommendations
Podcast Brunch Club (PBC) brings the concept of book clubs to podcasts. The idea is to listen to a set of predetermined podcast episodes and then discuss it with other listeners at a designated time and place. PBC has both real-life meetings and virtual video chats, and you can choose accordingly.
Every month, PBC puts out a listening list of one to five hours worth of podcast episodes. They all follow a common theme, and you'll also find a few bonus episodes if you're done with the five and want more. PBC also adds a few questions and discussion points as conversation starters for your club meeting.
Naturally, you'll need to subscribe to PBC to participate in these conversations. The listening lists are available for free on their website though, if you just want to discover new podcasts without the "book club" mechanism.
4. 3by3 (Web): Answer Three Questions to Discover Three Podcasts
There isn't a StumbleUpon-like random discovery engine for podcasts, but 3by3 might be the closest thing you'll get. The idea of this web app is to ask you three questions and, based on your answers, suggest three podcasts you might like.
All the questions are of a multiple-choice nature. But the types of questions are a bit abstract, in order for 3by3 to understand what kind of a listener you are. Sure, you'll sometimes get questions like "Do you like history?" that easily connect to a genre of podcasts. But often, you'll be asked things like "What do you look for in life, adventure or inner peace and balance?" or "Are you a Mac or a PC?"
After your three answers, you get three podcast suggestions with a small blurb. If the podcast is on Apple Podcasts, you can click the link to go to it or search for it on your favorite podcast app. And if you're dissatisfied with the results or simply want more recommendations, take the 3-question quiz again.
5. Podcast Newsletters (Email): Weekly Newsletters With Recommended Podcasts
Email newsletters are back in vogue, and you'll get some of the best podcast recommendations through these. Here are three of our favorite active newsletters:
Hear Here by The Guardian: This weekly newsletter recommends three new podcasts every week, with a focus on a particular theme. You can find their archives and other articles and reviews of podcasts on The Guardian's Hear Here mini-site.
Podcast Gumbo: Podcast Gumbo offers three recommendations per week with a neat description. Each has a one-line hook to tell you what it's about, and a quick "Listen if you like" cheat sheet of tags so you know whether it's up your alley. You can also browse the full archive on the website.
EarBuds Podcast Collective: Every week, a new person curates five podcast recommendations around a particular theme in the EarBuds Podcast Collective. Since the people keep changing, the choices are also vastly different. Founder Arielle Nissenblatt also turns the newsletter into a weekly podcast, if you prefer to hear the recommendations instead.
Are Paid and Subscription Podcasts Worth It?
Podcasts are more popular than ever, and experienced audio storytellers are now jumping into the field. You'll find exclusive podcasts behind subscription services like Spotify Premium, as well as paid podcasts narrated by experts and voice actors.
Most of the recommendations from the above apps will be for free podcasts and not for these paid or paywall podcasts. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't explore them. Often, you'll find a free introductory episode of paid podcasts to give you an idea of what to expect. They're less reviewed and recommended, but do check around and you might find something that's worth the price.
source https://www.makeuseof.com/ways-to-discover-podcasts-worth-listening-to/
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