There is a huge podcasting industry outside of Apple. There have been hundreds of players in the game.
Many traditional podcasters come from talk radio.
One can created a podcast simply my recording and editing an audio file with Audacity. One can host podcast on any discount web host ... although it is usually better to use a content distribution network.
Most people who are serious about podcasting will host their podcast through a service like podbeam. Apple is just a tool used to market the podcast.
The one thing podcasts lack is a decent way to monetize their recordings.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Apple for the most part controls the indexing. That is where the problems can come from.
This is what @podping fixes.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I just want to make sure people understand the nature of the beast.
There is actually a huge number of independent podcasts. I usually download them from the creator's web site.
Apple and Talk Radio are Problems
Since Apple controls the indexing, they are able to limit the ability to monetize podcasts and they are able to shadow-ban the podcasts that they do not like.
The other big problem in podcasting is that the massive media conglomerates that control Talk Radio control the other half of the industry.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta