Podcasts are gaining popularity these days, and some of us cannot imagine our lives without listening to a podcast on the way to work or playing it on the background when doing chores. Today, more than 100 million people listen to podcasts in the US alone, and listeners tip about $300 a month to their favourite podcasters.
Podcasts are a great way to learn new things or keep yourself entertained. For some, it’s not enough to simply listen to podcasts; they host their own shows and want to attract as many listeners as possible. For those who listen to and host podcasts, there are plenty of apps and tools that make this interaction easier for everyone. Which service to choose, however?
If you want to launch your own podcast or discover some new shows to listen to, you need to find a good podcast hosting. Since there are a plethora of these, it’s rather challenging to choose the best one.
What is a podcast hosting?
Podcast hosting offers you a file hosting and an RSS feed for your podcast. Podcast hostings upload your audio files on their servers, and when a user subscribes to your show, the podcast hosting send your audio and multimedia files directly to the platform which plays the podcast.
This service needs a lot of space to store all these files and let users download them. A podcast hosting consists of a web server that let you upload your files and an RSS feed describing the files. Some professional podcast hostings offer a lot more than this, such as:
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Analytical insights on your listeners
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Marketing solutions for audience growth
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Ability to share your podcasts on social media
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24/7 support
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Live streaming
Free podcast hosting
Notwithstanding that the majority of professional or semi-professional podcast hostings charge money, there are still free or at least not such pricey options you can try out. Many free plans are merely standard price plans with limited functionality. If you just start your podcast, such hostings are a great opportunity to get to know these services.
So here are some podcast tools you can use to listen and even create your shows.
Pod Hunt is a web service for the discovery of new podcasts. Every day, users vote for episodes and get the best daily shows. On Pod Hunt, you can listen to podcasts and submit your episodes, alike.
Technically, SoundCloud is not a podcast host, but it always comes to mind when talking about podcast hostings. Yet, you’re able to store your podcasts here and listen to podcasts of other creators.
Tip: You can download podcasts, audiobooks , playlists and just songs from SoundCloud with 4K YouTube to MP3 .
Moon FM is a desktop podcast player for iOS and Android. It’s also accessible for macOS, Windows and Linux. But you can’t upload there your own podcasts; this tool is just for listeners.
MicDrop is an easy-to-use and user-friendly podcast hosting integrated with Dropbox. To start podcasting, you only need to have a Dropbox account, create a Dropbox folder for your show, save your audio files there and sync it with MicDrop.
You can integrate your podcast feed with Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more services to let more people find your show.
This is a community with recommendations and podcast compilations. Podcast Gang lets you not just listen to various shows but also submit your podcasts on the platform.
Podcasts selections are divided into several categories according to their topic and a publisher.
This service is an alternative to the previous one but apart from podcasts alone, it also has movies, TV shows, games, books, and reviews. With RateFox, you can listen to podcasts on the web as well as download a mobile app for iOS and Android.
Majelan is a player that also has podcasts, audiobooks, documentaries, news reports and radio recordings.
IndieCast is a platform that lets you discover independent podcasts. There you can find brand new music, playlists and shows. It has a web player and mobile apps for iPhone and Android devices.
Spotify is a music streaming platform that everyone has heard of. Despite the massive competition with Apple Music and Google Play Music, Spotify is probably the leading platform of this kind.
You can enjoy millions of tracks online or offline on any of your devices. Spotify has a web player, a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux, the mobile app available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone, and even compatibility with TVs, set-top boxes, smartwatches, and home video gaming consoles.
Web page, iOS app, and a desktop app are those platforms you can enjoy your favourite shows on or discover new podcasts. On Apple Podcasts, you can find entertaining, educational, and inspirational stories on different topics from business and marketing to sport and news.
Buzzsprout is one of the best podcast hostings for beginners. This is an easy-to-use service that enables you to create content without anything disturbing you. Also, the service is free for new users - you get a free plan that lets you upload two hours of content and stores your files for 90 days.
You can embed your podcast on your website or blog and see your performance insights. This tool is just for creators; you can’t find or listen to podcasts there.
Did you know that if you want to convert a YouTube video into MP3 and listen to it as a podcast, you can use 4K YouTube to MP3 tool and easily do so?
And if you want to isolate audio from another audio track, you are free to use our new AI-powered audio splitter Lalal.ai, which lets you remove vocals and backtracks from any song or podcast without quality loss.
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