Plex is inconveniencing podcast users by dropping support for podcasts and web shows on Friday, April 15, just a week after unveiling a new universal search and discovery feature. In a forum, the business stated: We’ve decided to stop support for Podcasts and Web Shows within Plex as part of our continuous commitment to make sure we’re investing our time and energy in ways that best serve our fantastic user community. We appreciate that this decision will have a significant impact on a number of you, and we regret for any trouble this may create. You can use these Plex features until Friday, April 15th, 2022, when they will be deactivated.
Podcasts and Web Shows were added to Plex in 2018, although it’s unclear how popular they were at the time, given that the service is now exclusively focused on streaming TV and movies. Plex stated that it is eliminating the content because it wants to devote its “effort and attention to methods that best serve our wonderful user community.” Plex’s increasing focus on its free, ad-supported streaming service, which is now driving the company’s income, is most likely the reason for this. Users showed little interest in Plex Podcasts, according to a spokesman who talked to TechCrunch. As a result, the decision was taken to remove them. While there was no official user count for this function, it was “very low.”
Plex notified consumers that they may obtain their list of podcast subscriptions in OPML format by replacing the TOKEN with their own X-Plex-Token value – a fairly sophisticated process that may not be appropriate for ordinary users. Users have often complained about problematic functions such as playing, episode sorting, and podcast administration, so it’s not surprise that they’ve given up. “Podcast experience wasn’t that great on Plex frankly and couldn’t see improved development nor problem patches, thus it was good to let it go to focus resources elsewhere,” one user commented in Plex’s support thread.
When asked if Plex has any intentions to offer a means to access podcasts in the future, a spokesman said the business is looking into numerous alternatives and that “audio will continue to be a skill over time.” Plexamp, the Plex music player, has been updated in recent months to provide quicker and smoother navigation, remote control capabilities, and other new features. Meanwhile, Web shows on the Plex media server will be shut down, which is another setback for the service. However, this isn’t a permanent change; according to the release, it will “live on in other aspects of the Plex app.” Plex was also requested for further information on the removals.
“While web show support is being phased down, we did notice that the most popular content was entertainment-related, so we want to integrate that sort of material into the correct context across the app over time,” the representative added. Plex had around 8,000 hours of web show content deleted, according to our sources. According to TechCrunch, the new Find area makes it simpler to discover, search, and customise streaming content across Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, and other subscriptions. Plex also offers free Live TV channels for users to get their “daily dose” of news, technology, gaming, culinary, travel, vintage movies, and more.
