NJIT's Student Newspaper

The Vector

NJIT's Student Newspaper

The Vector

NJIT's Student Newspaper

The Vector

Tech Talk: Pocket Casts

Tech+Talk%3A+Pocket+Casts

Platforms Available On: iOS & Android

Cost: $3.99

When traveling long distance there tends to be a need to fill in the gap with something worth your time. When you are tired of listening to music and would like an update on world news, economics, music, home décor or gaming, a podcast may be what you need for that moment.

Pocket Casts boasts a number of over three-hundred thousand unique shows to listen to. If you already follow a podcast on a different application and switch over to Pocket Casts, they would more than likely have it available no matter how niche the topic is. And if you are new to podcasts, you can sort by Category, Networks, Trending podcasts, Top most viewed podcasts, and the Nearby feature that allows you to see what other listeners near you follow.

When you are in a hurry, but want to listen to your favorite podcast on your commute, Pocket Casts has features that can accommodate those needs. Users can select the “Trim Silence” option, which cuts out any silence or pauses in the conversation you are listening to.

Couple this feature with the ability to adjust the playback speed from a crawl of .5 to the blur of words at 3 times normal speed, and users can shorten the amount of time it takes to listen to their favorite hosts. This is most useful when certain podcasts can stretch for as long as three hours. With both speed boosts, it is possible to listen to the same talk in significantly less time.

If you realize that you may be flying or riding an underground rail without free Wi-Fi available, you can preemptively download your selected episodes to listen to whenever you want. Afterwards, users can remove the downloads from their phone with ease.

The application also allows episodes to stack up in a queue so that there is always something new to listen to. You can listen to a podcast from NPR and as soon as it finishes, listen to your favorite group of indie music artist being interviewed by a smaller scale company.

You can favorite certain podcasts that you liked, receive daily news on which one of your subscriptions released content, see which podcasts you have not finished from the queue, or listen to previous “episodes” from before you began following your subscribed podcaster.

The choice of what to listen to – and when – is up to the user.

Leave a Comment
Donate to The Vector

Your donation will support the student journalists of New Jersey Institute of Technology. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to The Vector

Comments (0)

All The Vector Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *