Hands On Mac 146 Transcript
Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show
00:00 - Mikah Sargent (Host)
Coming up on Hands-On Mac, let's take a look at a brand new feature Apple just released. It's Apple Podcasts on the web. Stay tuned Podcasts you love From people you trust. This is Twit. Welcome back to Hands-On Mac.
00:31
Today we are looking at a feature that Apple literally just released and that is a new feature on the web. It's Apple Podcasts. Almost everything that you experience, that you do in the Apple Podcasts app, is now able to be done on the web. It is also available on web browsers in 175 countries and regions. So, for folks who don't have access to Apple Podcasts in other ways, this may be a way for them to finally get access to the Apple Podcasts library. So how do you access Apple Podcasts on the web and what does it look like? Well, let's take a look by heading over to macOS. So here we are on macOS, and I am currently in Safari and I've gone to the website podcastsapplecom the website podcastsapplecom.
01:30
Now, while I'm logged out of my Apple account, I do have access to different podcasts. I could click on one of these podcasts and hit, click on it and find something like episode one, for example, and hit play and I am immediately presented with a screen that shows me up at the top that this episode is playing. Now I can kind of maximize the artwork and bring up a fuller view of what's going on. I can rewind 15 seconds, go forward 30 seconds. I can hit play to continue the podcast. If I click on my favorite button, the three dots, I have the option to share this episode. Now let me close out of that and we'll go into an episode of the show. Disney is a TV company and here I can resume the episode that I've already started. I can scroll down and look at the show notes and the information, just like you'd be able to do in the podcasts app, for example. Now, if I click on the I in the information screen up at the top, I am presented with the episode notes, but there is not currently a place for me to be able to actually change the playback speed, for example, only skip back 15 seconds and forward 30 seconds, and I'm also presented with a cue so that I can decide what is going to play next.
02:59
Now, that is, while I am signed out, I'm able to again browse the different podcasts that are here and see what's at the top of the charts. But let me sign in with my Apple ID, and so I'm presented with a sign-in screen where I can use my fingerprint to authenticate, and once you sign in, you gain access to the shows and the channels to which you are subscribed. You gain access to shows that are recently updated, you gain access to the home screen, which shows you popular shows and essential listens, and if I click on my icon in the top right-hand corner, then I can choose settings and I am presented with a little bit of information, which is just my basic uh Apple account summary, but outside of that I am not given anything else. Uh, so I'm not able to, for example, go into the settings and change how podcasts are saved, et cetera. But if you use Apple podcasts in other places, then you are able to kind of sync that between them while you were signed in. So let me go to a show. Let's do a search and we will choose a sleep podcast and we will choose let's go with relaxing listens, like LeVar Burton reads. And I can follow this podcast to become a subscriber that's Apple's new name for it and by doing so now I am subscribed to it and I can choose an episode and look into the shows to which I'm subscribed, click on it and hit play on the latest episode. Once again, that playback appears at the top of the screen and I am able to bring that kind of full screen, look through what the book is that is being read and go ahead and close out of this kind of larger view. If there is any show note information, I'm also able to see that.
05:13
There, of, I think, greatest importance, you are not able to actually view chapters for these podcasts currently. So if the podcasts have chapters, you will not see those Now because this is a. You will not see those Now because this is essentially a web app. Then listeners will also be able to subscribe to notifications when new episodes are available. So a person using this would be able to say hey, let me know. A search for iOS Today and we can see the iOS Today audio version and I can see that I can play the latest episode. But I also have the ability right here to subscribe to the pro version of the show, so I could choose that subscribe button. I can see that I can purchase it for $30 a year or $2.99 a month and subscribe to get the ad-free versions of those shows. So Apple has now made it possible for listeners to come from any device that can access the web browser and playback content, and also give those of us who make podcasts the ability to present the subscription options to them as well.
06:46
Folks, I want to thank you for tuning into this week's episode of Hands-on Mac. I just wanted to show you the new Apple Podcasts experience that is available now on the web again at podcastsapplecom, and you can access that from a Mac or a PC. Anything that offers a browser is able to. Well, a modern browser is able to visit this site and listen to Apple podcasts. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for being a Club Twit listener, if you are. If you are not, I invite you to join the club twittv slash club twit, to sign up and become part of the fun, and I will be back next week with another episode of Hands on Mac. Bye-bye.
