Stitcher, the podcast app fresh off an acquisition by Pandora, is about to roll out an overdue makeover for its Android users with better fine-tuning when it comes to browsing, playing, and tracking the shows you want to listen to.
Read MoreStitcher, the podcast app fresh off an acquisition by Pandora, is about to roll out an overdue makeover for its Android users with better fine-tuning when it comes to browsing, playing, and tracking the shows you want to listen to.
Read MoreThe podcasting arms race has ratcheted up another notch as satellite radio company SiriusXM has completed its acquisition of podcast production and advertising behemoth Stitcher from E.W. Scripps for $325 million. It's a big deal business-wise, but for listeners, it also means that Sirius's Pandora app is getting a cadre of top podcasts in its catalogue.
Read MoreSiriusXM is one of the most popular satellite radio services in the US. However, the growth of paid radio subscribers is falling as free offerings like podcasts find more popularity than ever before. In an effort to ride the wave, SiriusXM has announced its acquisition of Stitcher, a mainstay in the world of podcasting.
Read MoreGoogle Play Music just added podcast support recently, but Stitcher has been successfully indexing and streaming podcasts for years. This has not gone unnoticed. Stitcher has been acquired from owner Deezer for $4.5 million. The buyer is E.W. Scripps, which probably isn't a name with which you're familiar. You may be familiar with what they do, though.
Read MoreIf you listen to a lot of podcasts, you probably spend at least ten hours or more every week getting through them. A common feature of podcast playback tools is the option to speed up playback, allowing at least some users to get through these almost entirely spoken-word programs more quickly. Popular Android podcast manager Stitcher now includes this option... but oddly, only for devices running Android 6.0 or later. The tool can speed up playback to 1.25x, 1.5x, or 2x (which is insanely fast). It can also slow playback by half.
Other changes in this version (3.5.5 on my Nexus 6) are mostly bug fixes, notably including a major bug for Wi-Fi detection on Marshmallow phones and tablets.
Read MoreDeezer, a company that provides an online music streaming service, announced today that it has acquired Stitcher, the well-known internet radio and podcasting brand. Sometimes acquisitions leave us scratching our heads in confusion. Other times they leave us feeling uneasy as we wonder whether the buyer will be able to successfully navigate the market they're now setting foot in. Occasionally companies are simply after talent. Then in certain situations, we watch as beloved brands disappear under a competitor's name.
In this case, it's easy to see why Deezer would want to acquire Stitcher. The company hopes to expand its talk radio presence, and Stitcher is a successful player in that field.
Read MoreStitcher Radio has made the jump to version 3.2, and it's a pretty nice update. Ever start a podcast and wish you could come back to it later without having to search? The app's new "Listen Later" feature will take care of that problem. Just click on an episode and hit up the "Add to Listen Later" option that appears. You can then access it and other saved episodes from the sidebar.
What's new: